Matthew Vaughn | The Accidental Director

The legend of Matthew Vaughn goes like this: Following his successful bout as producer for Guy Ritchie’s much lauded films Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, and a not so successful round as the producer for Swept Away, when Guy Ritchie took a pass on directing Daniel Craig in a new gangster film called Layer Cake, Vaughn stepped in and took the reigns as director.

Layer Cake chronicles a week or so in the life of a nameless cocaine dealer as he closes down shop for good. Before he can go though, he must track down his boss’ boss’ daughter, negotiate a deal for a million ecstacy pills, steer clear of some Serbian war criminals, and try to seal the deal with Sienna Miller. While more of a sleeper or underground hit that didn’t really hit it’s stride until its release on DVD, Layer Cake’s acclaim opened the door for him to direct X-Men: The Last Stand, which he turned down. I really enjoyed the first two X-Men films, and while there was little to like about the third one, I would have really liked to see what Vaughn would have been able to in the place of glorified National Lampoon director hack Brett Ratner.

"You know, this wouldn't be the first place I'd be wearing a dress like that to."

Since then, Vaughn has never looked back, next tackling Stardust, an adaptation of a graphic novel (the version I read was only a novel) by my favourite author, Neil Gaiman. Stardust was a sweeping, but somehow self-contained, Victorian era story about a boy (Charlie Cox) on a quest to recover a shooting star for the girl he loves (Sienna Miller). It’s a charming premise on its own, but it gets better: To get the star, the boy must cross “The Wall” into the realm of magic, and the star isn’t even a star, she’s a girl (and not just any girl, it’s Gap commercial superstar Claire Danes) knocked from her place in the sky. What’s more, the thing that knocked her from the sky is a precious family heirloom that will ensure the coronation of murderous Prince Septimus (Ben Kingley 2.0 himself, Mark Strong) if he can get his hands on it. And one more thing, the Star is being hunted by a coven of witches led by Michelle Pfeiffer. Despite all this cramming, there’s even room for Peter O’Toole and Robert DeNiro, plus Sir Ian McKellen TCB as the narrator. Stardust is charming, funny and delightful, yet I still find that it’s greatest triumph is that it crammed the whole story into a single film, which is a rarity these days with stories like these. (BTW: Stardust is finally coming out on bluray on September 7th, a recovering victim of commiting to HD-DVD. Expect our review of the release on September 5th.)

"Where did I get this tasty beverage? Well, you head down the hall and take your first left..."

Finally, Vaughn took on Kick-Ass and made a real go of it. It’s odd, but there was something so heartwarming to me about the action and violence. Much like his two previous films, it was an adaptation of a written work, and much like his previous films, it was clear that Vaughn had a firm grasp of the source material, coupled with a cordial relationship with the author. This kind of respectful approach ensures keeping the exisiting fans on board while hopefully bringing a whole bunch of new ones onto the bandwagon.

Vaughn’s next work will bring him back into orbit with the X-Men franchise with another adaptation, X-Men: First Class. It’s a prequel of sorts, I believe, and will likely go a long way to messing up the already messed up continuity of the previous (following) films. The cast for that one is impressive, with Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Kevin Bacon leading the pack. Also, if rumours (more precisely IMDB) are to be believed, Matthew Vaughn will be returning to direct Kick-Ass 2 – but take that little tidbit with a grain of salt. Believe me, when I can confirm it, y’all will be the first to know.

QUESTION: Do you know the little “easter egg” in Kick-Ass in reference to Matthew Vaughn’s infinitely more famous wife?