Argylle director Matthew Vaughn has explained his exit from X-Men: The Last Stand, which he attributed to the treatment of star Halle Berry.
In 2000, Berry made her debut as Storm in the original live-action X-Men film, going on to reprise her role for three sequels. The third film of the original trilogy, 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, was originally set to be directed by Vaughn before he handed over those duties to Brett Ratner. While at New York Comic-Con, per THR, Vaughn addressed why he left the project, claiming he was offended by studio executives intentionally misleading Berry into signing on.
Vaughn explained, “I went into one of the executives’ office and I saw an X3 script, and I immediately knew it was a lot fatter. I was like what the hell is this draft. He went, ‘Don’t worry about it,’ and I’m like, ‘No, no. I’m the director. I’m worrying about this draft.’ He wouldn’t tell me, so I grabbed it literally — it was like a crazy moment — opened the first page, and it said, ‘Africa. Storm. Kids dying of no water. [Storm] creates a thunderstorm and saves all these children.’”
Vaughn had no apparent issue with the scene, describing it as a “pretty cool idea.” However, the director said he learned quickly thereafter that there were no intentions to actually shoot the scene. According to Vaughn, it had only been added to this one particular draft of the script that was to be sent to Berry in order to dupe her into signing on. Vaughn said that was the moment when he realized he wanted nothing to do with the film.
“[I went,] ‘What is this?’ [They said,] ‘Oh, it’s Halle Berry’s script. I went, ‘OK, because she hasn’t signed up yet.’ ‘But this is what she wants it to be, and once she signs up, we’ll throw it in the bin,’” Vaughn said of the situation. “I was like, ‘Wow, you’re gonna do that to an Oscar-winning actress who plays Storm? I’m outta here.’ So I quit at that point.”
Matthew Vaughn Would Direct a Separate X-Men Movie
Vaughn would later swing back to the franchise as the director of the 2011 prequel X-Men: First Class. Berry would also later return for one more X-Men film when she reprised her role for 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. Vaughn contributed to the story of that film with Jane Goldman and Simon Kinberg.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
