Bryan Singer regrets not sticking around to direct X-Men: The Last Stand

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

It's probably safe to say that many fans consider X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, with the possible exception of X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, to be the low point of the X-MEN franchise, but it's possible that some of the faults found within the film could be blamed on its rushed production schedule. After directing both X-MEN and X2, it was assumed that Bryan Singer would return for X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, but Singer ended up dropping the film in favour of developing SUPERMAN RETURNS. While speaking with Fandango recently, Bryan Singer expressed regret at not sticking around to close out his X-MEN trilogy.

I like finishing things. I like finishing this particular iteration. I know X-Men 3 was quite rushed and I didn't complete it, and I felt a little like it was probably my responsibility to do that as a filmmaker, and I didn't.

Before leaving to develop SUPERMAN RETURNS, Bryan Singer produced a partial story treatment for what would be X-MEN: THE LAST STAND with Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty. His take on the film would have centered more on Jean Grey's (Famke Janssen) resurrection and fleshed out the Dark Phoenix story-line. After Singer left, taking Harris and Dougherty with him, Matthew Vaughn (X-MEN: FIRST CLASS) signed on to replace him. Vaughn soon realized that Fox wasn't going to give him the time to make the movie that he wanted to make and he decided to step down. Fox, anxious to make their release date, hired Brett Ratner (RUSH HOUR) to take over. The result was a film which, although it definitely has its moments, clearly would have benefited from a little extra time to get things right. Who knows what the film would have become had Singer stuck with it, but Singer did reveal that he likely wouldn't have killed off the handful of main characters who bit the dust in THE LAST STAND.

I might not have killed all those characters, but that's what was so fun about Days of Future Past. We had a joke on set: 'Hey Brian, you're not only directing Days of Future Past — you're actually living it!' I was going back and making changes in history. [With X-Men: The Last Stand], I don't fault anyone, including myself. It was just that circumstances didn't allow for it to happen.

The latest installment in the X-MEN franchise, X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, will hit theaters on May 27, 2016.

The trailer for X-MEN: THE LAST STAND ended up being better than the movie itself.