We never got a good reason for why director Matthew Vaughn left production on X-Men: Days of Future Past, and at the beginning of the week this led to speculation that Vaughn was in talks to helm the next Star Wars. Well, it seems we have another explanation.
Although he doesn't mention Star Wars specifically, comic creator Mark Millar, who has formed a partnership with Vaughn since they worked together on bringing his comic Kick-Ass to the big screen, told Comic Book Resources in an interview that Vaughn has opted to make the adaptation of Millar and Dave Gibbons' The Secret Service his next priority.
Here's what he had to say about what's going on in the world of film adaptations of his comics:
"What we're doing is that 'Kick-Ass 2' is filming now, and next year we'll start production on 'Secret Service' which I did with Dave Gibbons, and Matthew and I have been talking about that for years ... We thought Matthew was going to do X-Men first, but we found out there were actually a few imitation of 'Secret Service' in the works. People think you're lying when you say you're not trying to get your comics made into movies so quickly, but the two reasons it happens like that is first because it's the best ad for the comic you'll ever have. And for me, selling the book is the most important thing. The second reason is because people are always trying to rip you off. Somebdoy will start to work on a spec screenplay about your idea. There are three other projects I know of now about a James Bond king of guy taking a street kid and turning him into a spy. Three screenplays were already going through Hollywood about this! So Matthew and I said, '**** this. We're not letting anyone steal our ideas."
Sounds like a legitimate reason to move forward quickly on Secret Service, considering the street-kid-to-spy plot is essentially what the comic is about, but what this says more than anything is that Vaughn is passionate about the project — more passionate than he is about X-Men and collecting the paycheck for Days of Future Past.
The Secret Service is a prime project for Vaughn's talents, and would only be extra evidence to prove that he deserves a job directing a future Bond movie. It's no X-Men or Star Wars, but better to see Secret Service done right than some studio try to produce a poorly conceived knock-off.
