Until The Avengers hulk-smashed their way into my geeky heart, X-Men: First Class was my favourite of the Marvel comics based movies, and a lot of that had to do with the stylish direction of Kick-Ass (adjective or movie title, use as you feel fit) director Matthew Vaughn.
He produced an incredible film under really tough conditions with First Class (he only had 6 weeks to shoot it), so I was especially excited to see what he could do with its much bigger sequel, X-Men: Days of Future Past.
But now we’ve received a mutant curveball in the form of the news that Vaughn will no longer be in the director’s seat.
While no explicit reason is given for Vaughn’s departure, the report from Deadline does also seem to confirm earlier reports that Vaughn was looking to helm Secret Service, an adaptation of Fox’s recently appointed Marvel Creative Consultant Mark Millar’s comic book of the same name which the Scottish writer describes as “James Bond meets My Fair Lady”. Could it just be a matter of a scheduling conflict, and him picking Secret Service over X-Men?
And I’d hate to say it, but it could also be that Vaughn is just a chronic quitter. If you recall he also pulled out of directing Kick-Ass 2, handpicking director Jeff Wadlow as his replacement.
Seeing as Fox is probably not going to budge on their planned July 18th, 2014 release date, they need to get a replacement director in there soon, as all the principal actors have become excessively busy lately and have small window during which they’ll be available. And it looks like a rather familiar face might be swooping in to save the day.
The report claims that X-Men and X2 director and First Class screenwriter Bryan Singer is the front runner to replace Vaughn. Singer has always been heavily involved in Fox’s X-Men films (he’s already a producer on Days of Future Past), and while I do think that Vaughn has more of a stylish flair to his directing style, Singer is certainly capable behind the camera, so having the reins handed over to him is something I’m ok with.
But for the love of Magneto’s purple helmet, Fox, just don’t let Brett Ratner anywhere close to this thing.
Last Updated: October 26, 2012
