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Fox Offers X-Men: First Class to Matthew Vaughn? Not So Fast

by Alex Billington
April 30, 2010

It was confirmed a month ago that Bryan Singer would no longer be directing Fox's X-Men: First Class prequel, even though he had announced himself that he would be. We've been waiting for Fox to figure out who would replace Singer, as they're very anxious to get this shooting soon or they probably would've waited for Singer to finish Jack and the Giant Killer. While this isn't a done deal, Entertainment Weekly says that Fox has offered director Matthew Vaughn the opportunity to direct and they say he's "in talks" to take on the gig. But let's not forget that Fox screwed him over on X-Men 3, which he was supposed to direct as well.

Vaughn last directed Kick-Ass (which I loved) as well as Stardust and Layer Cake before that. He's a British director who doesn't like to be pushed around (read my interview with Vaughn) and always makes the movie that he wants to make, not the way the studio wants, which makes this seem like a very interesting decision considering Fox's Tom Rothman is infamous for taking over control on the X-Men franchise himself. EW also says that "sources say the studio is also speaking with other possible directors" so let's hope they don't pull an X3 on him again and go with someone else (much worse) at the last minute, which may be possible.

On Deadline, Mike Fleming says Vaughn has "emerged as the lead candidate" for the gig, but hasn't been signed yet. Other alternatives for the job are apparently Daniel Espinosa (Swedish director of the original Snabba Cash), Rupert Sanders (first-time director who made that awesome commercial for the Wolverine video game) and Jonathan Mostow (of Breakdown, U-571, Terminator 3 and Surrogates previously). I really hope they go with Vaughn and if they do, they better let him do his thing, even if it is PG-13, because I have plenty of faith in him, especially after Kick-Ass. What do you think? Who should direct this?

Update: In the midst of putting together this article, Heat Vision posted an update claiming that Vaughn has already passed on this entirely. Their update focuses on Daniel Espinosa, the Swedish director who's hot in Hollywood right now. "Espinosa is one of several directors Singer and Fox are meeting with" they say. They also go on to confirm that: "Reports that Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn is going to direct the project are incorrect; he passed days ago. Rupert Sanders also is no longer in contention." It's like there is a war between the trades now on who has the correct info and I don't know who to believe. Stay tuned!

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