The failure of X-Men: The Last Stand is the stuff of legend. Still by far the worst of all of Fox’s X-Men movies, it forced the studio to reevaluate everything going forward, which ultimately led to Matthew Vaughn reviving the franchise with X-Men: First Class in 2010. But that was not Vaughn’s first association with Marvel’s merry mutants, as he was originally set to direct The Last Stand before quitting and being replaced by Brett Ratner.
Vaughn spent last weekend at New York Comic-Con for his upcoming film, Argylle, and finally revealed the real reason why he quit The Last Stand. No, it’s not simply because the movie sucked, or because he was busy developing a solo Thor movie. It’s because of the shoddy treatment given to Oscar-winner Halle Berry, who was lured back to play Storm under the false impression that her role would be beefed up.
“I went into one of the executive’s offices, 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. She creates a thunderstorm and saves all these children.’”
Vaughn continued by saying the execs promised him that script would be “thrown in the bin” after Berry agreed to return. And Vaughn says that was a key reason he left, and who could blame him?
“‘Wow, you’re gonna do that to an Oscar-winning actress who plays Storm? I’m outta here.’ So I quit at that point”, he said.
Berry must’ve been pissed, however, she did return briefly to play Storm in X-Men: Days of Future Past, a film Vaughn actually developed before turning the reins over to disgraced director Bryan Singer. We finally got to see Bery and Vaughn work together properly in Kingsman: The Golden Circle, in which she played Ginger, the weapons expert of the Statesman. Perhaps with Vaughn still working on Kingsman 3, we’ll get to see Berry return to the big screen in that role? There’s also an outside chance we see her as Storm again in Deadpool 3, where Fox cameos are almost certain to be a major thing. [Collider]