Matthew Vaughn

Matthew Vaughn
Matthew Vaughn, March 2010
Born	Matthew Allard Robert Vaughn (1971-03-07) 7 March 1971 London, England, UK
Nationality	British
Occupation	Film producer Film director Screenwriter
Years active	1995–present
Spouse(s)	Claudia Schiffer (2002–present)
Children	Caspar Clementine Cosima

Matthew de Vere Drummond (born Matthew Allard Robert Vaughn; 7 March 1971), better known as Matthew Vaughn, is an English film producer, director and screenwriter. He is best known for producing such films as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000) and directing the films Layer Cake (2004), Stardust (2007) and Kick-Ass (2010). His latest film is the 2011 superhero film X-Men: First Class.

Film career

Early career

Vaughn was educated at Stowe School in Buckingham, England. Taking a gap year between Stowe and university, he travelled the world on a Hard Rock Cafe tour and landed in Los Angeles, U.S., where he began working as an assistant to a director. He returned to London, attending University College London where he studied anthropology and ancient history. He dropped out of university after a few weeks, and aged 25, he produced a little-seen thriller, The Innocent Sleep (1995), starring Annabella Sciorra and Michael Gambon.

Producer, writer and director

Vaughn continued as a producer on close friend Guy Ritchie's film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The film was a success in all aspects, earning Vaughn and Ritchie £9 million each. Vaughn would go on to produce Ritchie's equally acclaimed Snatch and the critically mauled Swept Away.

Vaughn made his directorial debut in 2004 with Layer Cake. The film was well received and its success led to Vaughn being tapped to direct X-Men: The Last Stand but he later dropped out only two weeks before filming began. Vaughn was subsequently very critical of Brett Ratner's direction of X-Men 3.

Vaughn next co-wrote and directed Stardust and a movie adaption of Mark Millar's Kick-Ass. He was also in talks to direct an adaptation of Thor, but left that project.

In May 2010, 20th Century Fox confirmed that Vaughn would direct and co-write X-Men: First Class. The film was released on 1 June 2011. Vaughn was signed onto direct the sequel, X-Men: Days of Future Past but dropped out in favour of Bryan Singer, the director of the first two films of the X-Men Series, X-Men and X2: X-Men United. Vaughn is still on as a producer.

It was announced in November 2012 that the reason Vaughn dropped out of the director duties of X-Men: Days of Future Past (the sequel to First Class) was to focus on the adaptation of Mark Millar and David Gibbons's comic book The Secret Service. 20th Century Fox has just closed a deal for worldwide distribution and Marv Films, Vaughn's production company, is also linked to the project. Jane Goldman wrote the script with the director. He stayed as screenwriter and producer in Days of Future Past. He's also a producer in the Fantastic Four reboot.

Recurring collaborators

Vaughn is best known for starting his career working as a producer for the Guy Ritchie films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, and Swept Away. Jane Goldman is one of the screenwriters that Vaughn collaborated with for the films Stardust, Kick-Ass, and X-Men: First Class. The actors that Vaughn usually works with in his films are Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones, Jason Flemyng, Vas Blackwood, Stephen Walters, Adam Fogerty, Sienna Miller, Brad Pitt (as a producer on Kick-Ass), Mark Strong, Robbie Gee, Alan Ford, Tamer Hassan, Dexter Fletcher and Rade Šerbedžija.

Collaborator	Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)	Snatch (2000)	Mean Machine (2001)	Swept Away (2002)	Layer Cake (2004)	Stardust (2007)	Harry Brown (2010)	Kick-Ass (2010)	The Debt (2011)	X-Men: First Class (2011)
Guy Ritchie	Y	Y		Y
Jane Goldman						Y		Y	Y	Y
Kris Thykier						Y	Y	Y	Y
Jason Statham	Y	Y	Y
Vinnie Jones	Y	Y	Y
Jason Flemyng	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y		Y		Y
Vas Blackwood	Y		Y
Stephen Walters			Y		Y
Adam Fogerty		Y	Y			Y
Sienna Miller					Y	Y
Mark Strong						Y		Y
Brad Pitt		Y						Y1
Robbie Gee		Y	Y
Alan Ford	Y	Y
Tamer Hassan					Y			Y
Dexter Fletcher	Y				Y	Y		Y
Rade Šerbedžija		Y								Y

¹ Pitt is credited in Kick-Ass as a producer only.

Personal life

Vaughn was believed to be born from an affair between his mother, the early 70's society beauty Kathy Ceaton and actor Robert Vaughn. A paternal investigation subsequently idenitified his father as George de Vere Drummond, an English aristocrat who is a godson of King George VI. Early in Matthew's life, before the paternal investigation, Robert Vaughn asked for the child's name to be Vaughn, and it continues today as his professional name, though Matthew now uses de Vere Drummond in his personal life and for the naming of his children.

Vaughn's wife is German supermodel Claudia Schiffer, whom he married in Shimpling, Suffolk, in 2002. The couple have three children, son Caspar Matthew (born 30 January 2003), daughter Clementine (born 11 November 2004) and daughter Cosima Violet (born 14 May 2010). They have homes in Suffolk and Notting Hill.

He has hired ex-Gurkha soldiers for security for him and his wife following reports of stalkers intruding into their house.

Filmography

Released Films

Year	Film	Credit	Notes
1995	The Innocent Sleep	Producer
1998	Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels	Producer, actor (cameo)	Nominated – BAFTA Awards – Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film (shared with Guy Ritchie)
2000	Snatch	Producer
2000	Lock, Stock... (TV series)	Executive producer
2001	Mean Machine	Producer
2002	Swept Away	Producer
2003	Swag (TV series)	Executive producer
2003	Make My Day (TV series documentary)	Executive producer
2003	A Short Film About John Bolton (short)	Producer
2004	Layer Cake	Director, producer	Empire Award for Best British Director Nominated – BAFTA Awards – Carl Foreman Award for the Most Promising Newcomer Nominated – British Independent Film Awards – Douglas Hickox Award Nominated – Empire Award for Best Newcomer
2007	Stardust	Director, screenwriter and producer	Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form (shared with Goldman, Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess)
2009	Harry Brown	Producer
2010	Kick-Ass	Director, screenwriter and producer	Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Original Screenplay Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Action Movie Nominated – British Independent Film Award for Best Director Nominated – British Independent Film Award for Best Screenplay Nominated – Empire Award for Best Director Nominated – European Film Award for Best Film Nominated – Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Film Nominated – Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Screenplay Nominated – SFX Award for Best Film
2011	The Debt	Screenwriter and producer
2011	X-Men: First Class	Director and screenwriter
2013	Kick-Ass 2	Producer
2014	X-Men: Days of Future Past	Screenwriter, producer
2014	Brilliant (short)	Director
2014	The Secret Service	Director, producer and writer
2015	The Fantastic Four	Producer

External links

• Matthew Vaughn at the Internet Movie Database
• Marv Films at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with "Superherohype.com" (August 2007)