X-Men: The Last Stand had more than one director attached before Brett Ratner took on the role and delivered the final film. One of those previous directors was Matthew Vaughn who signed on in 2005, but subsequently left the film before filming began. Vaughn finally entered the X-Men franchise years later of course with X-Men: First Class, and it was looking as though he would stay with the franchise for a sequel but that no longer appears to be the case.It’s looking like Vaughn will take on a different project for Fox with a film based on the Secret Service comic series. Secret Service #1 launched in April 2012, the story is by Mark Millar and Matthew Vaughn with artwork by Watchmen’s Dave Gibbons. Discussing the new series Millar has been quoted to say;
Secret Service is the ramifications of [how] America is struggling on the world stage, funding is being seriously undercut to balance the books and some people are trying their best to take advantage of the fragile global situation. The hero and sidekick guys who lead the book are, I think, the best characters I’ve written.
With Vaughn off First Class 2 and a scheduled release date of July 2014 looming over the project a new director is being sought. Interestingly it is rumoured that Bryan Singer, is on the studio’s list as a high priority potential replacement. Singer of course is the creative force behind the original two X-Men films before he famously departed the franchise to work on Superman Returns. Singer returned to the franchise when he became involved with First Class in a writing/producing role.
At this point in the franchise Singer really does appear to be the best choice for the studio to continue with X-Men: Days of Future Past, he has been heavily involved with the spin off series to date and clearly has the directing skill to deliver. X-Men: The Last Stand suffered greatly from a development cycle that was plagued with uncertainly and an inflexible release date, despite its financial performance the film fell vastly short when compared to its predecessors.
Hopefully Days of Future Past will be spared a similar fate.
