X-Men director quit threequel after studio allegedly tricked Halle Berry with a fake script

Director Matthew Vaughn has revealed why he left 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand just weeks before filming began.

"One of the main reasons I quit X-Men 3, and this is a true story," Vaughn began during a panel at New York Comic Con (H/T Screen Rant): "I went to an executive’s office and I saw an X3 script. It was a lot fatter. 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 continued, "I thought it was a pretty cool idea. 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.’ I thought, if you’re going to do that to an Oscar-winning actress who plays Storm, I quit."

Berry did appear in X-Men: The Last Stand, garnering a larger role which eventually saw Storm replacing a now-dead Charles Xavier as head of the X-Mansion’s mutant school. The situation in Africa, however, didn’t make it into the final cut directed by Brett Ratner.

Vaughn later went on to direct X-Men: First Class, as well as having a story credit on X-Men: Days of Future Past. His new movie, thriller Argylle, is set for release on February 2, 2024. The first trailer teases a cat-astrophe for Bryce Dallas Howard’s spy author – and the characters from her novels.

For more, check out how to watch the X-Men movies in order, as well as all the movie release dates you should be looking forward to.