Halle Berry played one of the most badass characters in the X-Men franchise, Storm. The actress reprised her role in multiple films of the franchise, including the futuristic X-Men: Days of Future Past. The Oscar-winning actress was given top billing along with Hugh Jackman in the films.
However, she was reportedly close to being betrayed by Fox Studios in the film X-Men: The Last Stand, which is often considered to be a major disappointment. In fact, filmmaker Matthew Vaughn, who was initially signed on to direct the threequel reportedly left the film after getting to know what the studio would do to Berry.
Matthew Vaughn Was Initially Intimidated By Halle Berry’s X-Men Script
Matthew Vaughn was known for his film Layer Cake and for producing Guy Ricthie’s Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels when he was signed on for the third X-Men film. Series director Bryan Singer, who helmed the first two films reportedly left the third film to make Superman Returns, taking his writers with him.
While Vaughn was working on the film, the actors were reportedly still negotiating contracts as they had only signed on for two films. This included Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, and more. Vaughn cast Kelsey Grammer as Beast in the film. However, Vaughn left the film in 2005 citing familial issues (via BBC).
In 2023, Vaughn revealed more about his time as the director of X-Men: The Last Stand and mentioned the meetings he had with Fox executives. He recalled one particular meeting where an executive presented him with a thick draft of a script that Halle Berry had developed. Vaughn told THR,
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 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 filmmaker was intimidated by the draft as it was a lot thicker than what he remembered reading first and hence was worried about what he had signed up for. Fox had already announced a May 2006 release date, but no director had signed on yet (via Variety).
Matthew Vaughn Left X-Men: The Last Stand After Executive Revealed What They Would Do With Halle Berry’s Script
When Matthew Vaughn was being considered for the director’s position of X-Men: The Last Stand, actress Halle Berry had reportedly still not signed on for the third film. The actress had won the Oscar for Best Actress for Monster’s Ball and had also starred in rival DC’s Catwoman, which was termed one of the worst films of all time.
While Vaughn initially mentioned that he had left the film as he did not want to uproot his daily after filming was set to be done in Vancouver, Canada, he revealed in 2023 that he was not happy with what a Fox executive said about Halle Berry’s script. He said to THR,
[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,’” the director said, recounting the executive’s response. “I was like, ‘Wow, you’re going to do that to an Oscar-winning actress who plays Storm? I’m out of here.’ So I quit at that point.
The filmmaker revealed that he had actually been interested in the idea of Berry’s Storm saving kids in Africa as an opening. However, after knowing what the studio was planning to do, he left the film.
X-Men: The Last Stand is available to stream on Disney Plus.
