Four years after “Kingsman” director Matthew Vaughn was first eyed to direct a “Man of Steel” sequel for Warner Bros. and DC, the filmmaker tells TheWrap he’s still keen on making a “colorful” Superman movie with Henry Cavill.
In 2017, Vaughn surfaced as the top choice to direct a new Superman movie to follow in the footsteps of Zack Snyder’s 2013 reboot “Man of Steel.” But then “Justice League” was released that same year to critical derision and disappointing box office, and Cavill has not reprised his Superman role since.
Speaking with TheWrap in anticipation of the release of his World War I-set prequel “The King’s Man,” Vaughn revealed he pitched a version of a Superman movie before Warner Bros. made “Man of Steel” and noted his continued desire to craft a colorful iteration of the DC hero. “I was desperate to do a Superman film. Desperate,” Vaughn confessed. “I pitched a big Superman movie before they made ‘Man of Steel.’ I just got to work with Henry Cavill, which was lovely, on ‘Argylle’ and he’s unbelievable in it. I still think there’s room for a new Superman film, but a proper Superman film. A colorful, fun Superman movie. Not a dark one.”
Vaughn maintained that he and Cavill would “go off and make a great Superman movie” if given the opportunity, but confessed he doesn’t even know who runs DC at the moment. The filmmaker went one more, candidly noting that he feels it was a mistake to follow up “Man of Steel” with “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which brought Superman and Ben Affleck’s Batman together. “I just thought it was a mistake putting the Batman vibe into the Superman world,” Vaughn said. “I just think they’re two separate — they’re just not relatable in any way, in my mind. It should be fun. I mean, look, ‘The Dark Knight’ was obviously different, and it made sense and it was brilliant, as a film and as a comic. But Superman was always… I loved the [Richard] Donner ‘Superman’ movie, and I think ‘Wonder Woman’ worked because, I think, ‘Wonder Woman’ was basically remaking [Donner’s] ‘Superman’ in a weird way. Yeah, I love Superman.”
The filmmaker is no stranger to comics or superheroes having directed the 60s-set prequel “X-Men: First Class” and the R-rated “Kick-Ass,” and while he’s currently building out the “Kingsman” franchise with a planned third movie in the works and just wrapped an 80s-throwback actioner for Apple called “Argylle,” it sounds like Vaughn isn’t ready to give up on directing a Superman movie just yet.
