Director of X-Men: First Class Matthew Vaughn was supposed to helm X-Men: The Last Stand, but he ultimately withdrew from the film to helm an adaptation of Stardust, a novel by Neil Gaiman. At the New York Comic Con 2023, Vaughn gave an explanation of his decision to quit X-Men: The Last Stand during a panel discussion.
“It was strange because I went from Layer Cake, a little £3 million film, and all of a sudden I have Hollywood contacting me and asking if I would like to make an X-Men movie,” he said. And my response was, “Yes.”
“And because I considered X2 to be a masterpiece, I was anxious about attempting to replace Bryan Singer. He continued, “And it was a dream come true. The film was storyboarded by me. The final product was not the film I intended to make. because Act 2 began with the Golden Gate sequence. And in Washington, we had this wild action scene.
After that, Vaughn attacked the Hollywood system, saying, “But I was naïve. I made movies using the following method: set a budget, make a timetable, and follow it. Furthermore, Hollywood operates differently. They present the budget and timetable, act as though they are going to work on it, then make everything up and [inaudible]. And at the time, I was unaware of that.
“Therefore, I was naive to walk away,” he said. “I was told you won’t be able to work in this town ever again. And for a while, I thought so. I then said to myself, “Well, f**k Hollywood.” I do not want to be like this. And Stardust, you know what, I would prefer to do this after reading the book and getting to know Neil Gaiman.
Then, Vaughn attacked Hollywood’s business practices, saying, “But I was naïve. I created movies by giving out a budget and a timeline and telling others to follow it. Hollywood also operates differently. Here is the budget, here is the timeline; they act as though we will follow through on that, then they make everything up and [inaudible]. I was unaware of that at the time.
He went on, “So I was naïve to walk away.” “You’ll never work in this town again is the speech that I received. And I kind of thought so. ‘Well, f**k Hollywood,’ I thought to myself. I don’t.
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