The King’s Man director Matthew Vaughn says that helming X-Men: First Class gave him the confidence to play around with historical events. The King’s Man serves as a prequel to the first two installments of the Kingsman films: 2014’s Kingsman: The Secret Service and its sequel, 2017’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle. The forthcoming prequel, which is set for a December 22 release, will explore the origins of the Kingsman secret service organization around World War I and introduce audiences to the original lineup of spies: Orlando, Duke of Oxford (Ralph Fiennes), his protégée Conrad (Harris Dickinson), Shola (Djimon Hounsou), and Polly (Gemma Arterton).

The King’s Man isn’t Vaughn’s first time taking on a franchise prequel. Vaughn directed and co-wrote the first film in the X-Men prequel trilogy, 2011’s X-Men: First Class. Set in the early 1960s, First Class focuses on the relationship between Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender). It also traces the history of the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants amid the backdrop of the Cold War.

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In an interview with Screen Rant, Vaughn links his experience making X-Men: First Class with The King’s Man, noting how each project tests the boundaries of historical fiction. Both films take place during an explosive moment in history: the Cuban Missile Crisis and the start of World War I, respectively. “If I can get away with doing the Cuban Missile Crisis with blue people running around, I can get away with [The King’s Man],” says Vaughn. “First Class definitely gave me the confidence that you can take an historical event and just play around with it a little.” Read Vaughn’s full thoughts on how X-Men: First Class influenced The King's Man below:  

"I think the main thing was it gave me the thought, ‘If I can get away with doing the Cuban missile crisis with blue people running around, I can get away with this.’ So I think it gave me much more confidence to take what other people would call two [genres]...Some of the complaints at the moment are, ‘You've taken two genres and threw them together. What is this? What is it?’ I'm like, ‘Well, it's a Matthew Vaughn film. I had it on Kick-Ass.’ Some of them go, ‘What? You're doing R-rated and superhero kids thing?’ I always get this criticism for trying to be different, but I'll be bored if I wasn't trying to be different. And yeah, First Class definitely gave me the confidence that you can take an historical event and just play around with it a little, but still stick to the historical facts."

The Cuban Missile Crisis in X-Men First Class

Vaughn is certainly leaning into the historical facts surrounding The King’s Man. The film is set to feature a slate of real-life historical figures, tyrants, and criminals, including Tom Hollander as George V, Wilhelm II, and Nicholas II, and Rhys Ifans as a baggy-eyed Rasputin. They will be joined by Prince Felix Yusupov (Aaron Vodovoz), clairvoyant Erik Jan Hanussen (Daniel Brühl), Herbert Kitchener (Charles Dance), industrialist Alfred DuPont (Todd Boyce), Tsarina Alix (Branka Katic), alleged spy Mata Hari (Valerie Pachner), and Gavrilo Princip (Joel Basman), who famously assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

And as fans gear up for the release of The King’s Man later this month, first-look images and trailers have already teased just how playful the director is willing to get. The King’s Man final trailer in particular showcases a light-footed, cartoonish Rasputin. While history buffs are sure to find fault with Vaughn’s version of events, the director has made it perfectly clear that he’s not aiming for historical accuracy. As mentioned, after all, he inserted “blue people running around” into the Cuban Missile Crisis. The King’s Man, however, promises to be an even bloodier affair than X-Men: First Class, with the wartime setting coinciding with the year of Rasputin’s murder. Hopefully, those aforementioned fans of world history will settle for a dose of veracity within The King’s Man’s farfetched action sequences.   

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