Storm actor Halle Berry recently praised filmmaker Matthew Vaughn for revealing the shady tactics used by 20th Century Fox to get her to sign on for X-Men: The Last Stand.
Vaughn was originally set to direct the 2006 movie, X-Men: The Last Stand, but explained during a New York Comic-Con 2023 panel that he departed the superhero sequel after learning how 20th Century Fox planned on getting Berry to return as Storm. He detailed how he “went into one of the executives’ 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.'”
After getting his hands on the script, the filmmaker shared how this X3 draft opened with a scene he had never seen before, which was set in Africa and saw Storm creating a thunderstorm to save a bunch of kids dying of thirst. While Vaughn liked the scene, the executive revealed that it was only there to entice Berry to sign a contract to return as Storm, telling the filmmaker that what he was reading was “the Halle Berry script […] and once she signs up, we’ll throw it in the bin.”
Vaughn revealed how the trickery rubbed him the wrong way, leading him to depart the movie as its director, with Brett Ratner eventually hired to replace him. “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,” recalled Vaughn.
A video of Vaughn’s NYCC comments recently went viral, prompting a reaction from Berry, who shared the resurfaced clip on her X account with the following caption: “Ya just never know the shady shit going on behind ya back! Thank you Matthew Vaughn for bringing the dark to light.”
Check out the video and Berry’s reaction below:
Is Halle Berry done playing Storm?
Following her appearances in all three installments in the original X-Men trilogy, Berry has only reprised the role of weather-controlling mutant Ororo Munroe/Storm in one further movie — 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. While there were rumors that the actor might appear in Deadpool & Wolverine, Storm never ended up appearing in the Marvel Studios movie. In August 2024, Berry revealed that she was never officially asked to return as Storm, although Ryan Reynolds’ wife, Blake Lively, had asked her if she would be interested in being in the movie. “‘Yeah, if he asked me,’ but he never asked me,” Berry explained.
Disney+ Has the Best Bundle in the Business
Sign-up today for access to Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+
Sign-ups support Superhero Hype
via affiliate commission
However, Berry could still return as the fan-favorite mutant in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, Avengers: Secret Wars, which is heavily rumored to be bringing back multiple Marvel legacy actors, including Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. When asked in September 2024 if she’d be open to returning as Storm for Secret Wars, Berry said, “Perhaps you never know. We’ll find out, fingers crossed.”
All four X-Men movies featuring Berry as Storm are available to stream on Disney+.
