) may not be directing the proposed X-men: First Class film afterall, despite months of news and interviews with the director that indicated he would helming the project. Just as recently as last week, Singer gave an interview with the LA Times where the director made it clear his intentions, but there was one potential stumbling block that appears to have tripped everything up.The problem is that Singer has already agreed to direct fairy tale Jack the Giant Killer for Warner Brothers. He can't drop out at this point as location scouting has already begun, and Fox is loathe to wait until 2012 for Singer to be freed up again to work on the next X-men film. Fox has already begun actively seeking a replacement, and by all accounts the names on their list are directors who have a history working with comic book properties and will make fanboys happy.
That sounds like Zack Snyder and Matthew Vaughn, to me. Snyder obviously has serious superhero cred after helming both 300
and Watchmen
. Vaughn, if you'll recall, was originally the director of X-3, but dropped out and was replaced by Brett Ratner. Vaughn's next film, Kick-Ass, is due out next month. It's possible that Singer may not be able to make his return to the X-men franchise for at least a couple of years, maybe just in time for X-men 4.
