Matthew Vaughn to Direct X3

Late last night it was reported at Ain't It Cool News that the third movie in the X-Men series will be helmed by Matthew Vaughn, the director of Layer Cake, a British crime movie that is set to come to the United States soon. Vaughn also produced Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, and Snatch. Rumors have been flying about who would direct the film ever since Bryan Singer left the franchise to restart Superman, usually hovering around Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator, Joss Whedon, who is currently writing the Astonishing X-Men comic series (my favorite comic on the shelves right now). While I would have loved to see Joss do it, I am very pleased with this news. I've heard nothing but good things about Layer Cake, and I find it interesting that they've gone with another crime director with a visual flair, much like they did with Singer who had just come off the Usual Suspects. It is widely believed that this next film would cover the "Dark Phoenix" plotline, which is generally considered the greatest X-Men storyline ever.

In other news, rumors of Quentin Tarantino directing a Friday the 13th movie have been debunked by the man himself. He says he'd love to do a horror movie but not one in that particular series. At the moment he is still planning to film Inglorious Bastards next.