X-Men: Days Of Future Past Looks For A Future Director In Its Own Past

The X-Men timeline is starting to literally fold in upon itself.

Matthew Vaughn did a hell of a job resurrecting the franchise with X-Men: First Class and needless to say I was pretty damn excited he'd agreed to come back to direct the sequel.  Now it appears that all bets are off, with Deadline reporting that Vaughn has officially left the project for undisclosed reasons.  (I'll bet good money that the official reason will end up being about scheduling.)  Now Fox is scrambling to find a new director so they don't blow their July 18, 2014 release date and it looks like their first choice is...Bryan Singer.

Yes, that's right, after remaining involved as a producer throughout the franchise's run, the man who started it all could be coming back to the director's chair.  It would be his first film in quite some time: while he directed the ill-fated Mockingbird Lane pilot (which NBC is dumping on the air this Friday night) and his recently re-titled Jack The Giant Slayer has recently seen its release date shuffled around once again, the last Singer-directed film that anyone's seen is 2008's underrated Nazi flick Valkyrie.  I've always had a soft spot for Singer so the idea of him returning to helm an X-film is certainly intriguing, especially considering the time-travelling nature of this next adventure.  If Singer really does end up directing, (which is not yet a done deal) I'd think that the return of familiar faces like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen would be all but assured.

There's a distinct air of deja vu to the whole thing.  Vaughn famously cracked the story for X-Men: The Last Stand before abandoning the project and opening the door for Brett Ratner to step in and kill the franchise for five years.  Similarly, Vaughn recently elected not to direct the sequel to his other superhero movie Kick Ass, turning those duties over to newcomer Jeff Wadlow.

Honestly, I'm not sure about all this.  While I like the idea of bringing in someone who has a sense of ownership over the entire franchise, I can't help but wonder if Singer is really the best choice here.  Part of me would love to see someone a little more daring step in.

Pipe dream?  I believe Rian Johnson is available...