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New York Comic-Con was pretty lowkey this year. Actors like Chris Evans, Ewan McGregor, David Tennant, and some of the cast members of Guardians of the Galaxy 3 showed up, but were respectful of SAG-AFTRA rules to not promote their projects. Evans did a panel basically just talking about life. I would have loved to have seen that panel. I haven’t been to NYCC since 2008. We tried to get tickets this year, but it was already sold out. Next year!
Director Matthew Vaughn also did a panel on Saturday, where he spoke about his upcoming spy thriller Argylle and shared some news about future projects, including a Kick-Ass reboot, Kingsman 3, and an unnamed musical. But perhaps the biggest bit of gossip to come out of Vaughn’s panel was an anecdote he shared about why he left the X-Men franchise. According to Vaughn, execs wanted to send Halle Berry a fake script to trick her into signing on for the third X-Men movie.
Director Matthew Vaughn claimed on Saturday that he decided to leave the 2006 blockbuster “X-Men: The Last Stand” after learning that several Fox executives were planning on giving Halle Berry a fake script. Speaking at New York Comic Con, Vaughn, 52, alleged that he walked into an executive’s office and noticed that the script that was being sent to the “Catwoman” actress was considerably different from the one he had, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“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?’” the “Kingsmen” director told the audience. “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,’” continued Vaughn.
Even though Vaughn admitted it was a “pretty cool idea,” he was still furious that the film executives would try to allegedly dupe Berry, 57, with a fake script.
“[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 recalled the executives allegedly saying.
“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 eventually agreed to join the film — with the original script — alongside Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Famke Janssen, Ian McKellen, Kelsey Grammer, Elliot Page and James Marsden. Vaughn was replaced by “Rush Hour” director Brett Ratner.
This story shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone but that is supremely f–ed up. I’m sure this is not the only example of something like this happening in Hollywood, particularly to a woman, and especially to a Black woman. It didn’t matter that she’s an Academy Award winner or a huge box office draw. It didn’t even matter that this was the third movie in the franchise, so presumably, they already had a relationship with Halle and her team. I’m angry just hearing this story 17 years later. It’s just so messed up. I would love it if more people came out and blew up execs spots like this. Maybe we can start a hashtag. Oh, and honestly, Vaughn dodged a bullet by walking away from X3. It was not that good.
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