Advertisement

Matthew Vaughn Explains Why He Quit X-Men: Days Of Future Past For The Secret Service

image

Director Matthew Vaughn has shed some light on why he did not return for ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ after directing ‘X-Men: First Class.’

The 2011 prequel gave the X-Men franchise a much needed shot in the arm after the deeply flawed ‘X-Men: the Last Stand’ (which Vaughn infamously came close to directing, before quitting over creative disagreements) and ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine.’

Before original ‘X-Men’ and ‘X2’ director Bryan Singer came back on board, Vaughn had originally been set to helm this year’s epic time-travelling X-movie. However, the director pulled out, opting instead to make the upcoming ‘Kingsman: the Secret Service’ - a spy adventure starring Colin Firth, based on the Mark Millar comic book, whose work Vaughn previously adapted for the screen in ‘Kick-Ass.’

- Eastenders Actor Linked To X-Men
- More Mystique/Magneto Romance Ahead
- How DOFP Changes X-Movie Timeline

Speaking to IGN, Vaughn has discussed why he made this decision:

“It started in a pub with Mark, and we were drunk. We sort of were complaining about how spy movies had become really quite serious. We said, ‘Let’s do a fun [one].’

image

"Mark went off and wrote a version, and I read it. I was like, ‘F***, maybe we should do this for real.’ Then he went ahead, finished the comic off. Then I was working on ‘Days of Future Past,’ and I’d finished the treatment. Then the [Kingsman] script fell out of me - just one of those things.

"I remember Fox going, ‘What are you talking about?’ because the two scripts came in at the same time. I was like, ‘Aw, s***.’ It was a really tough decision whether to do ‘Days of Future Past’ or do this. But then I was like, ‘F***, somebody else is going to wake up and do a fun spy movie. Then I will have written a bloody screenplay that no one will want to make.’

"So I probably made the craziest decision of my life to turn down an $800 million gorilla to do ‘Kingsman.’ But ‘Kingsman’s more me anyway.”

image

The light-hearted sensibility we can expect from ‘Kingsman’ is, it seems, the main thing Vaughn wanted to embrace - and he applauds this year’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ for the same reason.

“[I wanted to get back to] a sense of fun. The gadgets — just being pure entertainment, not heavy. I think superhero films are going up their a**es as well.

"Marvel, thank God, when I saw ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ I was like, ‘Yeah! This is a film that’s entertaining, it’s taken some risks, it managed to make me care about a raccoon and a tree. This is a f***ing genius piece of filmmaking.’ I’m like, ‘How can I be caring and enjoying this so much?’”

'Kingsman: the Secret Service' is due in UK cinemas on 12 February 2015. Watch a trailer below.

- Tatum Confirmed As Gambit
- Deadpool Launching Multi-Film Story
- X-Men/Fantastic Four Crossovers “A Possibility”

Picture Credit: 20th Century Fox