Matthew Vaughn

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

Matthew Vaughn (born 7 March 1971) 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 3 June 2011.He was signed onto direct the sequel, but dropped out in favor 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.

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

Directing credits

• Layer Cake (2004)
• Stardust (2007)
• Kick-Ass (2010)
• X-Men: First Class (2011)

Screenwriting credits

• Stardust (2007)
• Kick-Ass (2010)
• X-Men: First Class (2011)
• The Debt (2011)
• Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
• X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Producing credits

• The Innocent Sleep (1995)
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
• Snatch (2000)
• Mean Machine (2001)
• Swept Away (2002)
• Layer Cake (2004)
• Stardust (2007)
• Harry Brown (2009)
• Kick-Ass (2010)
• The Debt (2011)
• Kick-Ass 2 (2013)

Awards and nominations

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998):

• BAFTA Awards: Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film (with Guy Ritchie) (nominated)

Layer Cake (2004):

• BAFTA Awards: Carl Foreman Award for the Most Promising Newcomer (nominated)
• British Independent Film Awards: Douglas Hickox Award (nominated)
• Empire Awards: Best British Director (won)
• Empire Awards: Best Newcomer (nominated)

External links

• Matthew Vaughn at IMDb
• Template:IMDb company
• Interview with "Superherohype.com" (August 2007)