UPDATE: Now THR is also reporting that Vaughn has passed, and one of the primary contenders is Daniel Espinosa, a Swedish director who is taking a whole lot of meetings as he figures out what will be his first English-language film. We'll bring you more on him later.
Kick-Ass didn't manage to perform nearly as well as anyone expected it to, and it seemed that Matthew Vaughn might be forced to limp away again as he had after Stardust, saddled with another flop. But this is Hollywood and apparently there are no rules, so Vaughn has been offered to direct X-Men: First Class instead.
Entertainment Weekly reports that Vaughn has been offered the superhero project, which Bryan Singer ditched a month ago after teasing us with the idea of returning to the franchise he began. It's actually a little bit of history repeating itself; as EW reminds us, Vaughn was offered X-Men 3 back in 2005, and his turning it down resulted in Brett Ratner taking over the project. Perhaps he's trying now to make amends for the horrors of the past?
Then again, EW also speculates that Vaughn could pass, and Deadline Hollywood is hearing that Vaughn has already passed. It would be a little odd for Vaughn to return to superheroes so soon, even if it doesn't look like Kick-Ass 2 could be a reality. But even if Vaughn passes, can we take Fox offering him the job as a sign of who else they might be eyeing? They offered it to Mark Millar as well, so maybe this is an ongoing Kick-Ass thing? Is Christopher Mintz-Plasse next in line?
