I wish Hollywood were only the place where dreams come true. It would be so great to tell you that actors, writers, and directors head out west and get into an industry that treats them fairly. No one gets taken advantage of. Everyone gets the work they want and does it without being threatened, abused, or tricked. Even though it is an industry I am actively trying to be a part of, I know that I could end up being treated like s*** were I ever to “make it,” and I’m not even Halle Berry.
Despite being in her post-Catwoman era, Berry was a huge star in 2005. She won an Oscar a few years earlier for Monster’s Ball. There was talk of her being the first Bond woman to get a spinoff, for her role in Die Another Day. The actress also had two X-Men films under her belt. To say those movies were huge would be an understatement. Despite her success, that didn’t keep X-Men executives from trying to take advantage of her.
Director Matthew Vaugh spoke at a comic con last October. During a panel, he explained how he had been working on the third X-Men film, eventually titled The Last Stand. However, Vaughn had an experience with an executive, which would cause him to quit the project. Matthew had sat down to discuss the script for the movie and found one that led with Berry’s character, Storm. When asked about the script, the exec told Vaughn that it was just there to get Berry to sign on, after which it would be disregarded.
The director claims this caused him to walk away from the film, as he assumed he would get treated even worse than Academy Award Winning Actress Halle Berry. Brett Ratner would eventually take over, and the film… existed. Berry was not as big a focus as she was promised, and the door was (momentarily) closed on that era of the X-Men films.
Berry saw Vaughn’s comments about the incident making the rounds recently and decided to speak her mind on the subject. “Ya just never know the shady s—- going on behind ya back!” she wrote on Instagram. “Thank you Matthew Vaughn for bringing the dark to light.” What’s even s***tier about this is it implies Berry may not have even known about this until she saw Vaughn speaking. The executives likely wouldn’t have said, “Haha, we lied to you.” Still, she was probably given some excuse halfway through production and had to go with it as she had already signed on.
Luckily, Berry is still living her best life. She was tricked and used, but dammit, she’s thriving. She also clearly has a healthy attitude toward everything. I just wish this story was more surprising. Instead, it feels like more of the same.