Matthew Vaughn Quit X-Men 3 After A Disturbing Discovery Concerning Halle Berry
With the success of "X-Men" and its sequel, "X2: X-Men United" in the early 2000s, it was a no-brainer for 20th Century Fox to get cracking on "X-Men 3" in short order. The film that released in 2006, titled "X-Men: The Last Stand," was ultimately directed by Brett Ratner, though he wasn't the studio's first choice. The director behind the first two "X-Men" movies, Bryan Singer, left the franchise behind in favor of working on "Superman Returns," prompting Fox to hire Matthew Vaughn. However, a pretty terrible meeting led to Vaughn bowing out.
Speaking at New York Comic-Con, Vaughn recalled meeting with a Fox executive way back when who presented him with a revised "X3" script. Storm actor Halle Berry — who wasn't signed on for the threequel yet — had put it together with an emotional opening sequence featuring Storm using her powers to create rain for drought-stricken children in Africa. He liked Berry's ideas for the film, but despised what Fox planned to do with it. "[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. This planned betrayal was all he needed to hear to know he wanted nothing to do with the production (via The Hollywood Reporter).
Despite this unsavory "X3" experience, Vaughn did end up leaving his mark on Fox's "X-Men" saga in the end.
Vaughn worked on the X-Men franchise years after X3 premiered
It's no overstatement to say that Brett Ratner's "X-Men: The Last Stand" didn't do the franchise any favors. Odd character choices, an overstuffed narrative focused on too many storylines at once, and more missteps resulted in it becoming a disappointing end to the original "X-Men" trilogy. Still, it made loads of money and didn't totally kill interest in the "X-Men" franchise, so Fox went ahead and kept it around, for better or worse. This continuation opened the door for Matthew Vaughn to finally lend his creative skills to the "X-Men" world on two occasions.
Just a mere few years after Vaughn departed "X3," he took on director duties for "X-Men: First Class." This 2011 prequel highlights the origins of the X-Men team in the 1960s and explores the complicated dynamic of Erik "Magneto" Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) and Charles "Professor X" Xavier (James McAvoy). "First Class" did well financially and critically, and so did its sequel, 2014's "X-Men: Days of Future Past." This time travel adventure puts Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) at the center as he travels to 1973 in hopes of preventing an apocalypse in 2023. With Bryan Singer in the director's chair, Vaughn helped produce "Days of Future Past" and pen the story.
All in all, it seems that Matthew Vaughn made the right call by taking a principled stand and sticking up for Halle Berry during the start of production on "X-Men: The Last Stand." He avoided playing into a deceptive scheme devised by Fox studio heads and still took part in creating two of the best "X-Men" movies to date.