After learning that she was duped into taking on the part of Storm again in X-Men: The Last Stand, Halle Berry has spoken out about the “shady s***” behind her back.
The 2006 Brett Ratner-directed picture was the last of the original trilogy of X-Men films, which began with X-Men in 2000 and X2 in 2003. In the first two movies, Berry portrayed the mutant who controlled the weather.
In 2005, there was a question of whether she would return because the African god of weather didn’t do much in the first two films. The Catwoman actress told fans online that she would gladly reprise her role as Storm should it come with more screen time. She wrote, “I have not read the script. All I asked is that, if I come back, Storm needs more to do. If they have, in fact, written her closer to the comic book, then I’m in… If not, then I’m out. I hope I’m in though. I love Storm and really want to be a part of the last film.”
However, she did conclude the movie as the X-Men’s leader and the headmistress of the franchise’s main superhero academy.
But director Matthew Vaughn, whose previous accomplishments include the Kingsman movies, claims Berry was tricked into signing on to star in X-Men: The Last Stand by a fictitious script prioritizing her character in the first scene.
Vaughn told the crowd during a speech at the 2023 New York Comic-Con, “This is a true story and I don’t care if I’m not meant to say it. Hollywood is really political and odd. I went to an executive’s office and I saw an X3 script. It was a lot fatter. I asked, ‘What is this draft?’ They were like, ‘Don’t worry about it.’”
“So I grabbed it, and opened the first page, and it said, ‘Africa. Kids dying from no water, and Storm creates a thunderstorm to save all these children.’ I thought it was a pretty cool idea.”
Vaughn continued: “I said, ‘What is this?’ They said, ‘This is the Halle Berry’s script because she hasn’t signed on yet. This is what she wants it to be. And once she signs on, we’ll throw it in the bin.’
“I thought, ‘If you’re going to do that to an Oscar-winning actress who plays Storm, I quit.’”
With no plans to put that specific draft into production, the studio gave the actress a script that gave Storm a lot of work. Berry was given the earlier cut of “The Last Stand” that she had not consented to when she arrived on set. But Berry had committed herself to the deal; she was stuck. The studio’s hoodwinking ultimately caused the film’s original director, Matthew Vaughn, to depart. After Brett Ratner assumed control, the rest is history.
The John Wick actor posted a TikTok on October 5th, sharing the news after learning about Vaughn’s claims.
Ya just never know the shady [sh–] going on behind ya back! Thank you Matthew Vaughn for bringing the dark to light 🕯️ pic.twitter.com/Ki1ySAXjLU
— Halle Berry (@halleberry) October 5, 2024
After that, Vaughn filmed Stardust rather than X-Men: The Last Stand, but in 2011, he directed X-Men: First Class. In Bryan Singer’s 2014 film X-Men: Days of Future Past, Berry returned as Storm. Sadly, they chose to trick an Oscar-winning actor into appearing in a movie. The fact that she’s the only prominent black character makes it even more heartbreaking.
What do you think of this news and Berry’s reaction?