Summary
X-Men: The Last Stand’s original director, Matthew Vaughn revealed how Fox executives played dirty to secure Halle Berry’s return as Storm, promoting him to leave the project.
TheX-Menhave seen multiple adaptations in all forms, including thesoon-to-be-rebootedX-Menanimated series. One prominent example was the expansive cinematic universe built by 20th Century Fox,which introduced the mutants and their plight to many for the first time. The rest of the cinematic universe would stem from there, most notably the follow-up films that ended the original trilogy withX-Men: The Last Stand.
During his spotlight panel at New York Comic Con 2023, Vaughn explained why he walked away fromX-Men 3despite being attached to direct. Vaughn revealed that a Fox executive tricked Berry into signing on. After confronting the unnamed exec about a previously unseen draft of the script that prominently featured a scene with the character Storm using her powers to help starving children, Vaughn learned of Fox’s sneaky intentions. “That’s a pretty cool idea. So I was like, what’s this? They said it was the Halle Berry script. ‘She hasn’t signed on yet, but this is what she wants it to be. So once she signs on, we’ll throw it in the bin,'” Vaughn recalled. “I said wow, you’re going to do that to an Oscar-winning actress? I’m out of here. So I quit at that point. I figured I was mincemeat.”
Berry would go on to star in the film, apparently due to this shady approach from the higher-ups at Fox. Vaughn, who is now better known for his work onKick-AssandThe Kingsmanfranchise, which heconfirmed had started filming on a thirdKingsmanmovie, also revealed that the unnamed executive in question told him that he’d never work in the industry again, a claim that Vaughn admittedly believed at the time. Brett Ratner replaced him, but he returned to work onX-Men: First ClassandX-Men: Days of Future Past.
It’s unclear how common dirty tricks like this are in the industry, but Vaughn’s experience makes for a shocking anecdote. While the alleged situation behind herX-Men 3appearance was certainly not above board,Berry would play Storm again in an MCUX-Menprojectif the opportunity presented itself. As the star asserted, she loved the character, and everyone loved her. With the X-Men inevitably heading to the MCU at some point in the future, that opportunity might be on its way for Berry.
