Director Matthew Vaughn was set to direct 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand but quit just two weeks before filming started. The director has now revealed the true reason why he abruptly left the project.
In a special panel during this year’s New York Comic Con, Vaughn recalled his departure from X-Men 3. He claims one of the film’s executives attempted to lure Halle Berry to return for the third installment with a fake script. Vaughn revealed that scenes were added to what he called “the Halle Berry script” to entice the actor to sign up for The Last Stand. The director previously cited family matters and tight deadlines were the reason for his departure, saying that he “didn’t have the time to make the movie that I wanted to make.”
“One of the main reasons I actually quit X3 and it was a true story, and I don’t care if I’m not meant to say it, but Hollywood is really political in an odd way,” Vaughn said (via Comicbook.com). “I went into one of the executives office and I saw an X3 script and I immediately knew that it was a lot fatter. I was like, ‘What the hell’s this? This draft?’ Oh, don’t worry about it. Like no, no, I’m the director. I’m worrying about this draft. Tell me what it is. Wouldn’t tell me, so I grabbed it from him. It was like a crazy moment, but I grabbed it. Open the first page and it said Africa, Storm. kids dying have no water, she creates a thunderstorm and saves all these children. Okay, it’s pretty cool idea.”
It’s not unusual for movie scripts to change from the time they are pitched to actors and producers to their final state during filming. Movies are typically rewritten many times during the course of production. But, as Vaughn describes it, the script for X-Men: The Last Stand was altered specifically to trick Berry into signing up for the movie. The director ended up leaving the project because of the studio’s treatment of Berry, who previously won an Oscar for her role in Monster’s Ball.
“They said it was the ‘The Halle Berry script,’ because she hasn’t signed up yet,” Vaughn recalled. “But once she gets what she wants it to be and she signs up, we’ll throw it in the bin. And I was like, ‘Wow, you’re going to do that to an Oscar-winning actress who plays Storm? I’m out of here. So I quit.”
Berry eventually signed on for X-Men: The Last Stand with Brett Ratner taking over as the film’s director. Unfortunately, it was arguably the least successful of the first three X-Men films, earning mixed reviews and a moderate profit at the box office. Vaughn, on the other hand, went on to direct X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past and is currently working on Kingsman 3 and a reboot of Kick-Ass.
There have been rumors that the X-Men, including Berry, are making a comeback in Deadpool 3. The upcoming MCU film features X-Men alumni Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman and will reportedly be a farewell to the Fox Marvel movies. Deadpool 3 is just an introduction for mutants in the MCU, with rumors that the franchise will reboot the X-Men universe after the Multiverse Saga.
Deadpool 3 is coming to theaters on May 3, 2024.
