Oct 8, 2007, 7:00 GMT
Matthew Vaughn claims 'X-Men: The Last Stand' would have been "a hundred times" better if he had directed it.
British director Matthew Vaughn (R) arrives 03 October 2007 with his wife German former model Claudia Schiffer for the UK premiere of his new film, Stardust, held at the Odeon cinema on London's Leicester Square, Britain.EPA/DANIEL DEME
The director - who pulled out of the project just weeks before filming began - insists he could have made a better version of the action blockbuster than director Brett Ratner, who took over at the last minute.
Matthew told Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper: "As it happens, I could have made something a hundred times better than the film that was eventually made. It sounds arrogant, but I could have done something with far more emotion and heart.
"I'm probably going to be told off for saying that, but I genuinely believe it."
Matthew - who has a four-year-old son, Caspar, and three-year-old daughter Clementine with supermodel wife Claudia Schiffer – also revealed he would have loved to direct the film, but just didn't have enough time to commit to the project.
The 'Stardust' director said: "What happened with 'X-Men 3' was I didn't have the time to make the movie that I wanted to make. I had a vision of how it should be, and I wanted to make sure I was making a film as good as 'X-Men 2', and I knew there was no way it could be. I just suddenly knew it wasn't the right thing for me to do.
"It was a tough decision, because it was a hell of an opportunity, but I was trying to make a career as a director, and I didn't want to be the man accused of making a bad 'X-Men' movie.
"It could have been a death knell too. I had to be very, very careful because Hollywood could have said, 'Who does he think he is? He walked off a big movie.' So it was quite scary for me doing 'Stardust.' "
Fairytale fantasy 'Stardust' is out later this month with an all-star cast including Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Claire Danes, Sir Ian McKellen and Peter O'Toole.
(C) BANG Media International
Your Talkback on this Story