Matthew Vaughn left X-Men: Days of Future Past due to lack of excitement

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

When it comes to the X-MEN film franchise, we have three levels of director: Bryan Singer, Brett Ratner, and Matthew Vaughn. Of those three, you can eliminate Ratner as the lowest of the three, quality-wise. Between Singer and Vaughn, they both have their strengths as filmmakers outside of the superhero genre and within the X-MEN films, they have both proven themselves adept. So, when Vaughn opted not to direct X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST and Singer returned to the fold for the first time since X2, some were disappointed while others were okay with the franchise returning to the man who birthed it. Still, we didn’t know the true reason why Vaughn elected not to direct the follow-up to FIRST CLASS.

Thanks to a recent interview, now we do. Speaking to Empire, Vaughn clearly gave the reason why he left the franchise.

“It didn’t excite me enough. The thing that was exciting about it was bringing all these actors together. What a cast! But I’ve worked with great actors and I just thought, ‘I’ve got to do my own thing.’”

“The script was great for X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, but I had THE SECRET SERVICE in my head, and this has always been [director Bryan Singer‘s] machine. It’s come full circle.”

Not being excited by a project doesn’t tend to instill me with confidence in a project. If the massive cast and script and good enough, what isn’t exciting? I respect his artistic perspective not being challenged by the film and wanting to try something different, but something still doesn’t feel right to me. Could Vaughn have been at odds, creatively, with the direction of the movie? Maybe it just wasn’t the way he wanted to make it? Saying it is Bryan Singer‘s “machine” leads me to think that Singer wanted it to go one way while Vaughn wanted another.

Whatever the case may be, we are getting Bryan Singer‘s X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST and Vaughn’s THE SECRET SERVICE. Hopefully both are great movies. DAYS OF FUTURE PAST opens May 23, 2014 and THE SECRET SERVICE opens March 6, 2015.