Halle Berry thanks Matthew Vaughn for sharing X-Men ‘shady shit’

The further we get from that first batch X Men films, the uglier they seem to become. No matter how much Deadpool wants to cover up the past by putting Wolverine back in his yellow spandex, the allegations against Bryan Singer, the studio’s apparent disinterest, and inconsistent quality have tarnished the series’ reputation. Last year, Matthew Vaughn admitted that he had quit his job as a director X-Men: The Last Stand due to the existence of a fake script designed to trick star Halle Berry into signing on. Berry also recently found out about the script.

Berry, who appears in a diminished and thankless role in the second part X Men Continuing, Vaughn took to Instagram to thank him for calling out the studio’s “shady s—.” The Oscar winner shared a video of it Pop culture brain Newsletter in which Vaughn speaks to an audience at New York Comic-Con 2023 and explains why he left the project in 2005.

“I went into one of the executives’ offices and looked X3 I knew right away it was a lot thicker,” Vaughn explains in the video. “I was like, ‘What the hell kind of design is this?’ He said, “Don’t worry,” and I said, “No, no.” I’m the director. I’m worried about this draft.’ He didn’t want to tell me, so I literally grabbed it – it was like a crazy moment – but I grabbed it and opened the first page and it said, “Africa.” Storm. Children die without water. She creates a thunderstorm and saves all those children.’ In order. That’s a pretty cool idea. ‘What is that?'”

The executive told Vaugh that it was “Halle Berry’s script.” At the time, 20th Century Fox tried to get Berry to appear in the film by writing a fake script that she would actually like to perform. When she did, Vaugn was told, “We’re throwing it in the trash can,” which the English call a “dustbin.” “I thought, ‘Wow. “Wow, you’re going to do that to an Oscar-winning actress playing Storm? I’m out of here, so I stopped at that point because I thought I was mincemeat.”

Berry praised Vaughn for sharing the story, writing, “You just never know what kind of shady shit is going on behind your back! Thank you Matthew Vaughn for bringing the darkness to light.”

The studio had previously claimed that he left the project because he did not want to uproot his wife Claudia Schiffer and their two children during production. Vaughn would then direct X-Men: First Class and write Days of future past. He was under the impression that he would direct this sequel as well, but “Hollywood forgot to tell me after I wrote the damn thing that Bryan was legal.” [Singer] I have to direct first.” That was the final straw for Vaughn, who stopped messing around in Hollywood and got started The king’s man. Berry, for her part, returned to play Storm Days of future past and even appeared in the Kingman Consequence, The Golden Circle.

Berry also said that she would return to her other infamous superhero role, Catwoman, but only on the condition that she direct. Maybe she’d like to direct another story from Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, and in this one Storm finally gets to save some kids.