“You’re going to do that to an Oscar-winning actress? I’m going!” Why the director of X-Men 3 left the project to make Kick-Ass

During a panel at New York Comic-Con on Saturday night (via The Hollywood Reporter ), Matthew Vaughn reflected on some of his experiences in Hollywood — including what led him to leave X-Men and The Final Showdown (2006).

At the time, the director was attached to the project, a project that studio executives tried to keep under wraps, he said during the panel.

“I walked into one of the executives’ offices and saw the X3 script and immediately saw that it was much thicker. I asked him what the project was. He said, “Don’t worry about it,” and I said, “No, no. I am the director. I’m worried about this project.’ He wasn’t telling me, so I took it literally – it was a crazy moment – I opened the first page and it said, ‘Africa. storm. Children die without water. He creates a storm and saves all these children.’“

If he finds the idea “pretty cool,” Matthew Vaughan He quickly learns that this is just a ploy to get Halle Berry to sign his contract. Indeed, this scene was their bait, the scene he wanted to see in the movie. After signing the contract, the scene will be deleted.

“ ‘What is this ?’ “Oh, it’s a Holly Berry script.” I replied, “Okay, but he hasn’t signed it yet.” “But that’s what he wants, and once he signs it, we’re going to throw it in the trash.”“- said the director recalling the response of the executive authority. “I was like, “Wow, you’re going to do that to an Oscar winner who plays Storm? I will leave here.” So I stopped at that point.“

From X-MEN to Impact

Matthew Vaughan Thus he left the project – although he would later return in X-Men: Begins (2011) – and began the adventure Kick-Ass (2010), for which he literally had to mortgage his house to finance the first. movie. No distributors wanted the project until the first clips of the film were shown at San Diego Comic-Con…

“Thank goodness for Hall H, because we showed the movie there, or they showed clips from the movie – after Avatar, so I really thought it was spoiled. The fans were so mad that the sheeple of Hollywood decided that maybe there was something here that the fans would like. So they went for it.“

KICK-ASS, reboot in preparation

while speaking He looks at the assThe director has not said the last word about the franchise: a reboot is actually in the works.

“Kick-Ass changed people’s perception of what a superhero movie was at the time. So we’ll start over.“

The reboot currently does not involve the original cast, including Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who will soon play Kraven the Hunter for Marvel. however, Matthew Vaughan specifying that they may end up returning: “We want them back after the reset. This reboot is going off on a tangent that I can’t really talk about at this point. But it’s fun.“

Among the prolific director’s other projects: a musical comedy in the works, Argylle, his next spy thriller with Bryce Dallas Howard, Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell and Dua Lipa, scheduled for release on January 31, 2024 (watch the trailer below), and Kingsman 3, still starring Taron Starring Egerton and Colin Firth, it’s also slated for release next year.

In the meantime, rediscover Kick-Ass streaming on Amazon Prime Video.