Storm actor Halle Berry addresses the "shady" circumstances about her return in X-Men: The Last Stand. . Although Storm is one of the most popular characters in X-Men history and Halle Berry played Storm four times since the X-Men movie franchise's start in 2000, Berry's Storm received very little to do in Fox's X-Men films. Storm participated in the team's battles throughout the original X-Men movie trilogy and X-Men: Days of Future Past, but beyond that, she barely had a character arc of her own.
On Instagram, Halle Berry shares a video analysis from popculturebrain, which dissects director Matthew Vaughn's anecdote about quitting X-Men: The Last Stand. According to Vaughn, 20th Century Fox added a fake opening sequence to X-Men: The Last Stand, where Halle Berry's Storm summons rain in Africa to provide water to starving children. However, this scene was allegedly included with the sole purpose of enticing Berry to join the project, after which the sequence would be scrapped. Halle Berry captions her post, "Ya just never know the shady sh*t going on behind ya back! Thank you Matthew Vaughn for bringing the dark to light." Watch the video below:
I went into one of the executives' offices and I saw an X3 script, and I immediately knew it was a lot fatter. I was like 'what the hell is this draft?' And they went 'don't worry about that'. I'm like 'yeah, I'm the director, and I'm worrying about this draft. Tell me what it is, please.' He wouldn't tell me.
And it seems like a crazy moment, but I grabbed it, opened the first page, and it said 'Africa. Storm. Kids dying of no water. She creates a thunderstorm and saves all these children.' Alright, that's a pretty cool idea. What is this?
And they went 'Oh, it's the Halle Berry script. Because she hasn't signed up yet. This is what she wants it to be. But once she signs up, we'll throw it in the bin.' And I was like 'Wow, you're going to do this to an Oscar-winning actress who plays Storm?' I'm out of here. So I quit at that point.
What Halle Berry's Comments About Fox's "Shady Sh*t" Mean
Studios And Actors Apparently Aren't Always On The Same Page About Superhero Movie Role Expectations
The constantly changing variables behind superhero blockbusters can be tempting opportunities for studios to provide actors, directors, and writers with inaccurate or unrealistic expectations. Halle Berry's third appearance as Storm in Fox's X-Men movie franchise is just one example, as some actors have previously complained about similar situations, though each case seems less straightforward than Berry's. For instance, Hugo Weaving told Time Out that Marvel "pushed back on the contracts" after his first appearance, so he rejected Avengers: Endgame. Similarly, War Machine was recast with Don Cheadle replacing Terrence Howard because Howard disagreed with Marvel about salary expectations following Iron Man.
In 2010, Jessica Alba shared her frustrations about Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, where the director told her, " Can you be prettier when you cry?". According to Alba, this moment made her reconsider her acting career. Eleven years later, in 2021, MCU star Scarlet Johansson entered a legal dispute with Marvel when the studio released Black Widow while the film was still in theaters. Johansson and Marvel settled the dispute soon afterward, however.
Our Take On Fox's Treatment Of Halle Berry
The Superhero Movie Genre Is Too Big To Need To Trick Actors
Film studios neither need nor should trick actors with false expectations about their roles — especially in the superhero scene, now that the genre has become a Hollywood behemoth. Roles in blockbuster franchises like Fox's defunct X-Men movie franchise often come with long-term commitments. These commitments can easily boost an actor's career, but they can also limit their creative freedom and lock them into a role for years or lead to typecasting. If actors are expected to reprise their superhero movie roles, it may be in the studios' best interests to provide them with a worthwhile script and clear contract conditions.
