Summary
- Halle Berry may have been tricked into starring in X-Men: The Last Stand through deceptive tactics by a former Fox executive.
- Berry's experience making X-Men: The Last Stand may have been difficult.
- Berry expressed her desire for her character Storm to have more meaningful dialogue and character development.
Long before the third Deadpool movie became part of the MCU, the X-Men film franchise and its stars were a huge deal. Of course, the X-Men movies starred several rich and famous actors. Still, Halle Berry stands out even among that group since she has starred in so many extremely successful films.
Unfortunately for Berry, a report about her tenure starring in the franchise claims she was tricked into starring in X-Men: The Last Stand. When that accusation surfaced, fans want to know how Berry felt about starring in the third X-Men movie.
Was Halle Berry Tricked Into Starring In X-Men: The Last Stand?
After the massive success of X-Men and X2, everyone knew it was only a matter of time before another movie was produced. What many fans didn't realize at that time was there was a perception that one of the franchise's stars wouldn't return for the third film.
Since she was cast as Storm, Halle Berry became one of the franchise's biggest stars. As a result, there was no doubt that Fox wanted Berry to come back for the movie that became known as X-Men: The Last Stand.
However, Berry told Fox that she may not return for the project. Almost two decades after X-Men: The Last Stand was released, a story about why Berry eventually starred in the film surfaced.
During X-Men: The Last Stand's preproduction process, there was a lot of upheaval. A major part of the reason for that is it was hard for Fox to find a director to helm the movie.
After Bryan Singer walked away from the project to helm Superman Returns, Matthew Vaughn was hired. Even though Vaughn would later direct X-Men: First Class, he also walked away from X-Men: The Last Stand and was replaced by Brett Ratner.
In 2023, Vaughn took part in a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter. During the resulting conversation, Vaughn explained why he walked away from X-Men: The Last Stand. According to Vaughn's allegations, he refused to direct the third X-Men movie because of Fox's treatment of Halle Berry.
“I went into one of the executive’s office and I saw an X3 script, and I immediately knew it was a lot fatter. I was like what the hell is this draft. He went, ‘Don’t worry about it,’ and I’m like, ‘No, no. I’m the director. I’m worrying about this draft,'”
Vaughn continued, “He wouldn’t tell me, so I grabbed it literally — it was like a crazy moment — opened the first page, and it said, ‘Africa. Storm. Kids dying of no water. She creates a thunderstorm and saves all these children.'”
As Vaughn explained to The Hollywood Reporter, he thought this new scene was a "pretty cool idea". However, Vaughn decided he had to leave the project completely after a studio executive allegedly described the duplicitous purpose of this new script.
“[I went,] ‘What is this?’ [They said,] ‘Oh, it’s Halle Berry’s script. I went, ‘OK, because she hasn’t signed up yet.’" The executive then allegedly claimed the script was a lie to convince Berry to sign on "‘But this is what she wants it to be, and once she signs up, we’ll throw it in the bin.'”
Vaughn felt that lying to Berry was especially wrong considering how talented she is. As a result, he decided it was better to walk away from the project than be part of the deception. “I was like, ‘Wow, you’re gonna do that to an Oscar-winning actress who plays Storm? I’m outta here.’ So I quit at that point.”
At that point in Vaughn's career, he was known for directing Layer Cake and Kick-Ass. As a result, helming a big-budget X-Men movie would have taken his career to another level. That fact makes Vaughn's decision to quit even more remarkable.
Did Halle Berry Have A Miserable Time Making X-Men: The Last Stand?
As of the time of this writing, Halle Berry hasn't publicly responded to Matthew Vaughn's story. As a result, there is no way to know what Berry thinks about Vaughn's claim that a former Fox executive knowingly deceived her. However, there are reasons to think Berry's experience starring in X-Men: The Last Stand was difficult.
After Matthew Vaughn walked away from X-Men: The Last Stand, Fox recruited Brett Ratner to take over the project. At that point known for directing the first two Rush Hour movies, Ratner had gained a lot of power in Hollywood.
Sadly for the cast of X-Men: The Last Stand, however, there have been many accusations about Ratner's conduct. In fact, two of X-Men: The Last Stand's stars have called out Ratner's conduct on the film's set.
In 2017, Elliot Page accused Ratner of "homophobic and abusive behavior" including outing the young actor. The next day after Page's accusations, Anna Paquin came forward to publicly state she witnessed Ratner's abusive behavior toward Page.
On top of Page and Paquin, several other women have accused Ratner of similar and much worse behavior. As of the time of this writing, Halle Berry hasn't made any accusations about Ratner.
Berry has spoken publicly about her opinion of her role in X-Men: The Last Stand. To understand Berry's comments, some context is necessary. In the past, Berry has been open about fighting with Bryan Singer on the set of X-Men and X2. As Berry has explained, those fights were motivated "out of [her] sheer frustration" about how Storm was handled in those films.
Knowing that Berry was upset on the set of X-Men and X2, it seems that she may have been much happier making X-Men: The Last Stand. The reason for that is when X-Men: The Last Stand was released, footage of Berry talking about her role in the film came out.
During that interview, Berry spoke about threatening to quit X-Men: The Last Stand. As Berry went on to explain, she only did that to make sure her character was handled better in the film, and she felt she accomplished that.
“This is all I ever wanted. Not really more screen time because I know it’s an ensemble, but if Storm spoke for 5 minutes, then I wanted it to be 5 minutes that meant something. 5 minutes of character development; 5 minutes of a point of view and 5 minutes of some back story history, not just ‘go get the plane’ or ‘come on kids, let’s go’. After three movies, I really wanted her lines to mean something."
