Filmmaker Matthew Vaughn said, during an appearance at New York Comic-Con 2023, that the producers of X-Men: The Last Stand wrote a fake script to convince actress Halle Berry to sign the contract to return to the role of Storm.
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“I walked into one of the executives’ offices and there was an X-Men 3 script on the table. I immediately realized it was a fatter script than the one I had received. I asked what that was, and he said, ‘ Don’t worry about it.’ But I was the director of the movie, so of course I would worry!” Vaughn said.
“Since the executive refused to tell me what the script was, I just reached over and took it from his desk. It was kind of a crazy moment, but I started reading and there was a scene where Storm appeared in Africa, creating a big rain to keep the children on the ground from dying of thirst. I thought, ‘Oh, how cool is this!'” he continued.
Thus, it was at that moment, according to the director, that the executive revealed the studio’s strategy: “He told me that it was ‘Halle Berry’s script’. She hadn’t signed the contract yet, so the idea was to show her a scene she would love, and then throw it away once the deal is done.”
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“This is a true story, and it was one of the main reasons I resigned from X-Men 3. I don’t care if this is something I shouldn’t tell anyone,” said the filmmaker. “I thought, ‘You’re doing this with an Oscar winner who plays Storm? I’m out.'”
X-Men: The Last Stand was released in 2006, directed by Brett Ratner, completing the initial trilogy of Marvel mutant films. The film grossed US$460 million at the global box office.