Interview with “Layer Cake” and “X-Men 3” Director Matthew Vaughn

Directing a movie is easy. Just ask Matthew Vaughn. The British “It” producer, who helped bring us “Snatch” and “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels,” had zero experience—nada—in actual directing. After reading J.J. Connolly’s novel, “Layer Cake,” he thought, what the hell, directing can’t be that hard, I’ll do it myself. So he did.

It’s an astonishingly good debut. Set in the belly of London’s cocaine-dealing underworld, “Layer Cake” is brisk, polished, brutal and smart. There are no conventional good guys or bad guys. No moments of sentimentality. But Vaughn makes us care about the protagonist, an unnamed coke dealer (Daniel Craig), as he zig-zags his way through heists and double-crossings.

Up next? “X-Men 3,” a film that will bring considerably more scrutiny. Vaughn chats about being a first-time director, which is “not as hard as it sounds,” his plans for “X3,” and even—get this—the strong possibility of a “Layer Cake 2.”

So this is your first time directing. What was the experience like?

Matthew Vaughn: I enjoyed it. I had a really good time. I had a philosophy, which may have been proven right, that directing isn’t as hard as everyone says it is. Being a producer, I deal with a lot of different directors, and some of them would drive me insane with all the histrionics and the mystique that [directing] carries. I wanted to show the world that, you know what, it’s not as hard as it sounds.

The toughest part about directing?

Matthew Vaughn: Getting up every morning. Really it was tough. When you’re a producer you can turn up at like 9:30, 10. But being there at quarter to 6 when you’ve had four hours sleep, it gets tough. But then you have kids and you realize that it’s called life. It sounds crazy, but I had the time of my life making this movie.

Any moments of self-doubt?

Matthew Vaughn: I don’t know whether it was extreme arrogance or stupidity, but after being around the film sets for 11 years now, I’d really seen how it works. The first day I was nervous. I was more nervous that I wasn’t going to like it. That was my fear: imagine after three days, thinking I really don’t want to do this, and I’ve got another seven weeks to go. But after three days I was totally in love with the process.

Talk about the title—“Layer Cake”

Matthew Vaughn: My main thing about the film—I’m trying to make the point that drugs are everywhere. Most people nowadays have a mortgage broker, an insurance broker, and a drug dealer in their address book. And it just annoyed me—sometimes these politicians [say] “thou shall not take drugs,” and at the same time, there’s a lot of very corrupt politicians. All I wanted to show is that crime and drugs are in every layer of society, especially in England. And I see that in America, as well. If you look at the people who are extremely wealthy, look at where the money began. I won’t say, but you look at some of the richest men in America, and look at what the families were doing when the fortune was being made. Crime, money, power, drugs—they’re all linked. And there’s a lot of people making money out of policing the drugs. Which I think is just as bad. They wouldn’t legalize it, because they’d lose a huge income from policing it. So that’s sort of what it’s meant to be about.

The violence in this movie felt raw. Not your usual Hollywood stuff. Did you have a vision of haw you wanted to handle the violence?

Matthew Vaughn: Yeah. Very much so. I wanted it to feel real. That was all I cared about. I think movies glamorize violence, in the sense that they make it in a way that it’s either cool or funny. So that combination, I think, can have a deadly effect on some 14-year-old kid watching it. So I wanted to make it where you’re like, oh, that looks horrible. That looks not nice. I wanted to capture what it’s like to be beaten.

Like the café scene…

Matthew Vaughn: The café scene was all about, could I somehow make you experience what it’s like to have the shit kicked out of you, without it actually happening? That’s why it was set in a very mundane place, and the music was meant to be non-inspiring. It was meant to be matter of fact. And then when it kicks off, it just feels like you’re in chaos. When a fight breaks out, it’s going to be a very quick, messy thing.

The iron was really well done.

Matthew Vaughn: Yeah, that’s the Russian way of torture. Which John told me about. The irons, they do strap you down, they turn it on, and after your heart starts boiling, you really do start blabbering. You just feel it getting warmer and warmer, and then it sinks through your chest, to the bone. Yeah. Not a nice way to go. The iron. That was the English poster of the book. The iron has become quite an iconic moment.

You had a 400-page script originally.

Matthew Vaughn: 408 pages.

Was it hard to figure out where to cut?

Matthew Vaughn: No, that’s when I started thinking, maybe I am directing this film. Because when the writer handed it in, I was like, nuts, this is way too long. Then I went through on my own and just sliced it and cut it, and got three characters and made them into one.

I was impressed by the film’s lack of clichés. When marking up the script, were there any particular clichés that you were worried about?

Matthew Vaughn: I was trying not to make another English caper film. Which I think “Lock, Stock” and “Snatch” are. They’re sort of black comedy romps, in a way. I wanted something more serious but not worthy of that. If that makes any sense.

Clichés…it’s funny you say that. You need clichés. Clichés are what people respond to. You just have to hide them. Clichés are what make you understand something. When someone says, you’re going to miss school. And then you go, oh, I’m not going to miss all that. And then you go, actually, that was a pretty easy way of life. Or, “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.” They’re clichés because they’re based on truth. So I think I sometimes will put a cliché in and then just pad it out so you’re not noticing.

So you cut all kinds of material. Will the DVD have any of this stuff?

SPOILER

Matthew Vaughn: Probably. You’ll see the ending, which Sony wanted, which I didn’t want. Where he survives and drives off with the girl. You’ll see that. There are a few—not many. We really got a tight script. I actually can’t remember, to be honest. There are probably three or four scenes, but not much.

Because this was your first time directing, what gave you the confidence to go through and cut the script?

Matthew Vaughn: I’d done it as a producer.

And J.J. Connolly was cool with the changes that you made?

Matthew Vaughn: He had to be. He hadn’t done a script before. I realized that he was a little bit floundering, as well. And he’s a good guy. A really good guy. And he knew that I did know that when it comes to structure and logistics of a film, that’s one thing—technically I know how to make a film. I had no doubt about that. It was just whether I could do something with any creativity, that was the challenge.

BIG SPOILER – DON’T READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE FILM

Why did you change the ending of the book?

Matthew Vaughn: [Pauses, thinks.] Okay, I thought he got shot at the end of the book.

He does. But he doesn’t die.

Matthew Vaughn: Who said he’s dead?

Good point. But there’s a whole other little section in the book…

Matthew Vaughn: I know, but that could be the beginning of the next film.

Do you think there will be a next film?

Matthew Vaughn: There’s a new novel coming out. And it’s pretty good. Maybe. [Pauses.] The concept of the novel is that he moves to the Caribbean. It starts out in the Caribbean, and he’s given it all up. And then Morty arrives. And announces he’s got cancer and not much time to live. And he’s got a lot of children around the world and he’s got no money. And they look around the Caribbean and they say, this is a mess—they really don’t know how to handle drugs. So they take over the Caribbean drug business.

Is this a genre you want to keep working in?

Matthew Vaughn: No. Not at the moment. That’s why I wouldn’t do it for quite a bit.

What other genres would you want to do?

Matthew Vaughn: I wouldn’t want to do horror or romantic comedies. So anything else I’d be up for. I’m interested in having good stories. That’s all that matters to me.

What are some of your influences in this genre?

Matthew Vaughn: The four crime movies that have influenced me the most would be “Godfather 2,” “Heat,” “Scarface,” and “The Long Good Friday.” They’re the four which I think is the pinnacle. There are probably other ones I’m forgetting. “Goodfellas” is pretty damn good as well.

Speaking of different genres—how different has the “X-Men” challenge been so far?

Matthew Vaughn: The main difference for me with “X-Men,” at the moment, is the concept that it’s already been cast. So I’m working with the script and I have no idea about the limitations or the boundaries of the actors. So that’s strange. Because normally you write a script and you find an actor that can do anything you want. And you’re inheriting someone else’s vision, and I’m working with a lot of studio executives, which I’ve never had to do before. It’s very different. I’m just used to making films. Waking up, let’s go, we do it. We have a lot of fun; there’s not much fun, there’s not much baggage. Here there seems to be a few suitcases.

I’d imagine you have some flexibility with casting the villains, though, right? Have you cast the villains?

Matthew Vaughn: It’s being done at the moment. That question would be a much better question to ask me in a year’s time.

In terms of casting, do you know yet who will be back?

Matthew Vaughn: I think they’re all going to be back. I hope.

Do you feel comfortable working with special effects?

Matthew Vaughn: I like doing as many special effects in camera, as much as possible. I’m not a CGI fan. I play videogames, and I feel that with a lot of these movies, you feel like you should be controlling them with [makes gestures with hands like he’s playing with a controller] with whatever they’re called, handheld control things.

Did you see “The Polar Express” and what did you think of the new performance-capture?

Matthew Vaughn: I didn’t see it. What, do you mean like Gollum?

Yeah, like that.

Matthew Vaughn: To be really honest, I find that the weirdest thing is to hire actors to put them in a suit and then. . . I understand if it’s Gollum or King Kong, but to do it for humans, I just find it weird, it seems a little bit odd to get a human to play a human, so, I don’t know. I haven’t seen it. So I can’t comment. But it just seemed a very expensive way of casting Tom Hanks to play Tom Hanks, if that makes any sense.

Have you thought about how to employ special effects for “X-Men?”

Matthew Vaughn: I’m going through it at the moment. I’ve got a visual effects guy, John Bruno, who does all of Cameron’s movies. He’s been great. I’m learning a hell of a lot from him.

When “X-Men 2” ends, it hints at the Dark Phoenix saga. Is that something we’ll see in “X3?”

Matthew Vaughn: What’s the Dark Phoenix saga? [Laughs.]

Is that a story you want to tell?

Matthew Vaughn: I can’t talk about it. I’m not allowed to talk about the plot. Lets put it this way: I know what the Dark Phoenix is now. I’d be happy to talk about it, but they’re paranoid at Fox.

I suppose I can understand why.

Matthew Vaughn: I don’t understand why. They should embrace people knowing what’s going on. The trailer will give it all away, I’m sure.

What movies are you looking forward to this summer?

Matthew Vaughn: [Pauses. Thinks.] Help me out here. “Star Wars.” I can’t wait to see. I’m a Star Wars fanatic. And I think this one’s gonna be the one that makes people feel, thank God he made another one. “War of the Worlds,” it’s an irony. Because I really want it to be good; I’m a big Spielberg fan. But he shot it so quickly: I think from beginning to end, eight months. Ridiculous. If it’s great, that’s going to put the pressure on all of us, the studio will go, “He can do it in eight months. Why can’t you?” Eight months is a short amount of time. But yeah, I’m looking forward to that. Anything else?

“Batman?”

Matthew Vaughn: “Batman,” yeah.

“Fantastic Four?”

Matthew Vaughn: [Long pause, tries to avoid laughing.] Yeah…

What are some of your favorite comic book films?

Matthew Vaughn: Of all time?

Yeah.

Matthew Vaughn: The Tim Burton “Batman.” I loved. I really liked “Batman.” I liked “Spiderman” as well; I thought “Spiderman” was well done. And I liked “X-Men,” obviously, or I wouldn’t be doing it. There’s a lot of bad. One thing that I really liked that everyone else hated, was “The Hulk.” I thought that “The Hulk” was a proper movie. I mean the CGI, but the first half of “Hulk” I loved. There are other movies I didn’t like. I haven’t seen “Sin City” yet, so I’m intrigued about what that’s like.

After producing and now directing, what ambitions do you have for acting and writing?

Matthew Vaughn: None. Whatsoever.

That’s where you’re drawing the line?

Matthew Vaughn: One should know your limitations, and believe me, acting would be a joke. And writing I think is a gift that you have, the same as acting, in a way. You’re taught the basics, but to be really good at something… I’ll never be a good writer, and no chance of being a good actor. Some people are directors and I think they should stay behind the camera. I won’t say who..

Questions? Comments? E-mail me at jeff@latinoreview.com.