Studio execs tricked Halle Berry into starring in an 'X-Men' movie with a fake script, director Matthew Vaughn says

Amanda Goh
Updated ·3 min read
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  • Matthew Vaughn says studio execs tricked Halle Berry into joining "X-Men: The Last Stand" with a fake script.

  • Vaughn, who was slated to direct the film but dropped out, made the comments at New York Comic Con, per Screen Rant.

  • "I thought, if you're going to do that to an Oscar-winning actress who plays Storm, I quit," Vaughn said.

Filmmaker Matthew Vaughn says studio executives tricked Halle Berry into joining the 2006 movie "X-Men: The Last Stand" with a fake script, Screen Rant and Entertainment Weekly reported.

Vaughn made the comments at New York Comic Con over the weekend, as reported by Screen Rant and EW.

Vaughn was initially tapped to direct the third film in the "X-Men" franchise but left before filming started. A 20th Century Fox spokesman told BBC in June 2005 that it was because Vaughn didn't want to uproot his family.

Berry played the role of the mutant Storm in the first two "X-Men" movies, released in 2000 and 2003. Vaughn said that while she was negotiating her appearance in the third movie, the studio gave Berry a script they never intended to make.

The filmmaker said he confronted studio executives after spotting a thick script in an office.

"I asked, 'What is this draft?' They were like, 'Don't worry about it.' So I grabbed it, and opened the first page, and it said, 'Africa. Kids dying from no water, and Storm creates a thunderstorm to save all these children,'" Vaughn said at Comic Con, as reported by Screen Rant.

Vaughn said the studio tried to dodge his questions but eventually told him the truth.

"I said, 'What is this?' They said, 'This is the Halle Berry script, because she hasn't signed on yet. This is what she wants it to be. And once she signs on, we'll throw it in the bin,'" Vaughn said, recounting his conversation with the studio, per Screen Rant and EW.

Vaughn said the interaction was a tipping point.

"I thought, if you're going to do that to an Oscar-winning actress who plays Storm, I quit. I thought, I'm mincemeat," Vaughn said, per Screen Rant.

This is not the first time the filmmaker has spoken about the reasons he left the project.

In an interview with The Telegraph in October 2007, Vaughn said he left "X-Men: The Last Stand" because of tight deadlines.

"What happened with X-Men was I didn't have the time to make the movie that I wanted to make," Vaughn told The Telegraph. "I had a vision for how it should be, and I wanted to make sure I was making a film as good as X-Men 2, and I knew there was no way it could be. I just suddenly knew it wasn't the right thing for me to do."

Brett Ratner eventually replaced Vaughn as the director of "X-Men: The Last Stand." Berry reprised her role as Storm in the film.

The movie was distributed by 20th Century Fox — now known as 20th Century Studios after its acquisition by Disney in 2019.

Vaughn would go on to make his debut in the mutant film franchise by directing "X-Men: First Class," released in 2011.

Representatives for Berry did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment. Representatives for Vaughn, Berry, and 20th Century Studios did not respond to requests for comment sent by Insider outside of regular business hours.

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