I don’t even know what Matthew Vaughn is thinking.
The director of Kick-Ass has signed on to direct X-Men: First Class, and he’s agreed to deliver it by June of 2011. That’s a fairly punishing schedule. Oh, and he’s doing it for Fox.
Vaughn had been in talks to direct but it had been off and on until Bryan Singer apparently bridged the gap. This is Vaughn’s second chance at the X-Men franchise, as he was supposed to direct X-Men: The Last Stand but dropped out at the last minute. Vaughn’s not unfamiliar with the regime at Fox, so they must be ponying up some money for him to come onboard.
For those who forget the bad decisions Fox has made with the X-Men franchise, X-Men: First Class is a prequel to the X-Men films so far. Rumor has it that Wolverine shows up, despite that breaking continuity even worse than the painfully continuity-straining X-Men Origins: Wolverine did.
Vaughn’s a good director, but he won’t be the first good director to walk onto the Fox lot and get their ass handed to them. I know that Vaughn knows the stories, and while I don’t know the truth behind his leaving the last X-Men film, I can’t help but wonder how true the ‘leaving for his family’ spin really was.
I wish I wasn’t so cynical about this, but Fox has given me endless reasons to feel down on their product, and rushing a shitty-sounding prequel into production isn’t helping matters.
13 comments
For those who doubt, I can assure you. The stories about Fox are very, very, very real.
I like Vaughn, but working with both Fox and that impossible schedule sounds like recipe for disaster.
On a recent episode of "The Treatment", Vaughn said his leaving X3 had to do with his not feeling like a necessary part of the X-Men machine at Fox. In other words, they wanted someone who wouldn't do much more than point and shoot.
DON'T DO IT MATTHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THIS IS BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't for the life of me understand this. The whole prequel idea sounds redundant, forced…just a terrible idea altogether. If there is a comic franchise that needs "rebooting" (god I hate that word now) X-Men is certainly it. This, however, sounds like its being constrained by the very stupid, very bad X3 and Wolverine continuity. Why not just do an X4 if you're sticking with the same interpretations? By virtue of how large the X-continuity and character library of the comics are, why this retread? My biggest beef, I guess, is that these movies should feel big and epic, like Abrams recent Star Trek. I want Sentinels attacking Mutant Town in Manhattan, Magneto unleashing some real metallic havoc, hell, even the time-travel stuff would be a breath of fresh air at this point. The movies always feel constrained by their budgets, never able to let the characters use their powers in the big, bombastic ways they do in the comics.
Devin –
Asked by BBC radio 5 Live recently why he walked from X-Men 3, he gave a very simple and honest answer. He said that he could tell very early on that the process had nothing to do with the director, but that as the director, he would be blamed for the end result.
He concluded by saying that it gave him a new insight into directors he hadn't really rated before, but now understands may have been chewed out by the same system.
This interview was only about 3 weeks ago. One assumes that Laura Shuler-Donner and Bryan Singer have managed to convince him he'll be protected and in charge. That's the only explanation.
Vaughn works quickly, efficiently and cheaply – Kick-Ass was made for what I would guess is less than a quarter of the budget he'll have to play with here. He wrote, shot and edited the film ready for release within a year, I think, and it was only because it was independent and needed to find a distributor that the release didn't happen until 2010. I'm baffled too, but as he dropped out over creative control issues, I'm guessing he's only signing on if he can use his regular team. Wouldn't be surprised if Jane Goldman and Mark Millar help him re-write this quickly before it goes before cameras.
Yeah, despite Vaughn's involvement, this has 'disaster' written all over it. No doubt Fox is rushing this because they're terrified of losing the X-Men film rights.
Silver Surfer is in this?
For those asking why they're not doing X4 – it's easy – new actors are going to be far, far cheaper than bringing back the established stars of the series. Which is one of the reasons this one is slated to have a budget about half that of X3.
That is not Silver Surfer, its Ice Man. I can't believe Vaughn is doing this, after listening to him on NPR saying how Fox nullifies its directors… Very odd, the shorter pre- production time is, the more shiite the movie will turn out. Good luck with this. The original X men brought me back to comic geek dom and I thought the action scene with Wolverine in the beginning of X2 was one of the best action scenes in comic movie history; bring Singer back to the fold and make the script super epic!
the action scene at the beginning of X2 was with Nightcrawler. Needs a reboot, I too want the true X-men Epicness ie Sentinels attacking mutants in the city, Mister Sinister scheming and plotting and having something to do with the Summers brothers. Wolverine massacring people etc etc.
The only thing that I'll be interested now is the whole "mini series" from uncunny x-men called DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. Cable, gambit, and everyone else that wasnt in the x – x3 movie
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