Phoenix rising

As a comics aficionado, Kinberg says he had shaped the aesthetic look and darker feel of the film visually before the project started.

"I didn't think I'd be responsible for being a part of bringing Dark Phoenix to screen, but when the time came to actually sit down and start thinking about the next X-Men movie, I just couldn't imagine handing this story to someone else to direct," he adds.

The London-born, American filmmaker reveals that he collected bits and pieces from other films to create "mood boards", an array of images and materials to evoke the film's style.

He even had a mood soundtrack and a score that mostly comprised pieces by celebrated German musician Hans Zimmer. Kinberg eventually invited Zimmer to compose the soundtrack for Dark Phoenix. Over his 40-year career to date, Zimmer has composed music for more than 200 films, including The Dark Knight, Gladiator and Interstellar, as well as winning an Academy Award in 1995 for best original score with Disney's The Lion King.

As well as Zimmer, Kinberg's experience as a producer provides him with a rich resource to convince the best in the business to join the team, recruiting top talent in a wide range from the cinematographer to the costume designer.

Reprising her role of Grey from X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), British actress, Turner, is familiar to Chinese fans as Sansa Stark from the recently-concluded HBO fantasy TV series, Game of Thrones.

Comparing the two characters, Turner says both are strong and powerful women, but the challenge of playing Dark Phoenix was researching mental illness to understand how two different personalities can inhabit-and clash-in one body.