When Matthew Vaughn decided not to direct X-Men: Days Of Future Past, the sequel to his own X-Men: First Class, alot of people where left scratching their heads. He had already declined to return for Kick-Ass 2, the reason beleived to be so he could devote his energies to the further adventures of a young Charles Xavier and company, but instead decided his next project would be The Secret Service, an adaption of a comic book he created with Kick-Ass creator Mark Millar.
The story of a young hooligan trained by his uncle to be a super spy, the movie was something Vaughn had in the pipeline for a long time, and work was expected to begin on it after Vaughn finished the X-Men sequel. Now, speaking to Comic Book Resources, Millar has revealed the reason for this turnaround:
"We thought Matthew was going to do X-Men first, but we found out there were actually a few imitators of 'Secret Service' in the works. People think you're lying when you say you're not trying to get your comics made into movies so quickly, but the two reasons it happens like that is first because it's the best ad for the comic you'll ever have. And for me, selling the book is the most important thing. The second reason is because people are always trying to rip you off. Somebody will start to work on a spec screenplay about your idea. There are three other projects I know of now about a James Bond kind of guy taking a street kid and turning him into a spy. Three screenplays were already going through Hollywood about this! So Matthew and I said, 'F**k this. We're not letting anyone steal our ideas."
As reasons go, it's a pretty valid one. The idea for the comic stretches as far back as production on Kick-Ass, so it is understandable that Vaughn would want to get the movie on the starting blocks as soon as possible.
No details on the project have been revealed yet, but Millar has gone on record that Mark Hamill will be making appearance, with part of the plot revolving around a conspiracy to kidnap actors and creators involved in popular science fiction franchises.
