Sophie Turner asked X-Men star Famke Janssen for blessing to play Jean Grey

Sophie Turner wrote to Famke Janssen to ask her blessing to play Jene Grey in ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’.
The 20-year-old actress – who rose to fame in ‘Game of Thrones’ as Sansa Stark – penned an email to the former ‘X-Men’ star, who depicted the raven-haired Marvel Comics superhero in three of the blockbuster superhero movies, to ensure she would be OK with her taking on the character.
Recalling how she sought advice from the ‘X‑Men: The Last Stand’ star prior to taking up the "baton" from Famke, 51, Sophie said: "I emailed her to check everything was OK with me playing a younger version of her and she seemed very happy, and she passed the baton over to me. I asked her for advice and if there were any movies she watched to get into the role, she didn’t, but she kind of said, ‘Go with it’."
Jene – who is also referred to as Phoenix – is a founding member of the X-Men squad and has telepathic and telekinetic powers, and without divulging too much of the plot, Sophie revealed the character struggles to keep her powers under control in the new movie.
During an appearance on UK TV show ‘This Morning’, Sophie said: "Jene really can’t control her powers and she’s too powerful for her own good, so it’s kind of about her letting go of them rather than honing the craft. And it’s about her trying to build herself up to that."
The story focuses on the first and most powerful mutant, Apocalypse, who is immortal and introduced in the movie as a messianic figure for the mutant community.
Jennifer Lawrence reprises her role as Mystique, James McEvoy as Professor X, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Alexandra Shipp as Storm and Nicholas Hoult as Beast.
And despite finding it "daunting" to join the established cast, Sophie was given a warm welcome into the "tight knit" X-Men family.
The actress – who joined the movie with fellow newcomer Tye Sheridan, who stars as Cyclops, and Ben Hardy as Archangel – said: "It’s so daunting, it’s really daunting but as soon as we got there everyone made us feel so welcomed because it’s such an established cast and they’re such a tight knit group. But as soon as we got there we had a cast co-coordinator who took us out to concerts and go carting and stuff, so we bonded straight away."