Rose Byrne, Oliver Platt Joining 'X-Men: First Class'

There's more casting news from X-Men: First Class to report. You can't allege that director Matthew Vaughn isn't working as fast as he can to get going on this, although I'm obliged to remind you again that Fox is placing very difficult parameters on this since it opens in early June next year. We just wrote the other day that Jason Flemyng will play Azazel, a key piece in the backstory because he's Nightcrawler's father, and there's already more to talk about. The lovely Rose Byrne (Damages) will play Moira MacTaggert, the love interest of Charles Xavier (James McAvoy). I was not really a Byrne fan, but her performance in Get Him to the Greek was really inspired, so now I'm more curious to see what her limits are. Also making the roster is Oliver Platt, and he's usually good for a laugh when the movies aren't that great. Not saying this won't be, just that he's better touching up a bad movie, it seems. Platt will play the Man in Black, who is not related to Men in Black, nor is he a mutant, although given the mutant war and all that down the line, I'm sure he's a government agent. This is great and all, but they've got to shoot this thing now and get it wrapped up. If you think June is an early call for this one, imagine the pressure to get something ready for South by Southwest in March. There's no way Fox lets that opportunity go without showing its first of only two potential franchise flicks next summer.