Matthew Vaughn Walked Away From X-MEN 3 Movie After a Fake Script Was Written To Trick Halle Berry

Did you know that X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn was actually set to direct X-Men: The Last Stand before disgraced director Brett Ratner jumped on board the project? Yep, it’s true and the movie would’ve been so much better had Vaughn actually ended up directing it! However, he ended up leaving the project after he found out a fake script had been sent to Halle Berry by an executive to entice her to join the project.

During a spotlight panel at New York Comic-Con, Vaughn shared the story behind this, saying:

"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. 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."

This is where the story takes a frustrating Hollywood turn of events. The executive went on to point out to Vaughn that the opening scene was only included in the script to get Berry to agree to appear in the movie, and that the plan was cut it out after Berry signed her contract. He explained:

"They said it was the 'The Halle Berry script,' because she hasn't signed up yet. 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."

Damn! That’s insane! But, I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise as a lot of these Hollywood executives are idiots. These guys manage to get these awesome jobs to do cool stuff and make cool movies, and they end up doing stupid shit like this. Ya gotta love the entertainment business.

Sure, Vaughn didn’t end up directing X-Men: The Last Stand, but he did go on to direct X-Men: First Class, which was a far superior movie.

Via: CB