Halle Berry was given ‘fake script to lure her into signing up for X-Men: The Last Stand’
Matthew Vaughn has revealed why he quit as the director of X-Men: The Last Stand.
Halle Berry was allegedly given a fake script by studio executives to dupe her into signing up for X-Men: The Last Stand.
During a panel at New York Comic Con on Saturday, director Matthew Vaughn revealed that he dropped out of the 2006 film after he allegedly discovered a fake script that had been drafted to get Berry to reprise her role as Storm in the third X-Men movie.
“I went into one of the executive’s office and I saw an X3 script, and I immediately knew it was a lot fatter. I was like what the hell is this draft? He went, ‘Don’t worry about it,’ and I’m like, ‘No, no. I’m the director. I’m worrying about this draft,'” he recalled, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “He wouldn’t tell me, so I grabbed it literally – it was like a crazy moment – opened the first page, and it said, ‘Africa. Storm. Kids dying of no water. She creates a thunderstorm and saves all these children.'”
The Kingsman: The Secret Service filmmaker thought the opening scene was “a pretty cool idea” but soon learned that it would never make the cut.
“(I went,) ‘What is this?’ (They said,) ‘Oh, it’s Halle Berry’s script. I went, ‘OK, because she hasn’t signed up yet.’ ‘But this is what she wants it to be, and once she signs up, we’ll throw it in the bin,'” Vaughn continued. “I was like, ‘Wow, you’re gonna do that to an Oscar-winning actress who plays Storm? I’m outta here.’ So I quit at that point.”
Berry had already played Storm, a mutant who can control the weather, in the first two X-Men movies, which were directed by Bryan Singer. She ultimately signed on for The Last Stand, which was helmed by Brett Ratner.
Despite the incident, Vaughn eventually made X-Men: First Class with a new cast five years later in 2011.
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