The X-Men 2 movie cast reportedly threatened to quit after director Bryan Singer oversaw a failed stunt that left Hugh Jackman bleeding on camera. When X-Men debuted in 2000, it changed the landscape of superhero movies in Hollywood, paving the way for not only its sequels but franchises like Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, Kevin Feige's Marvel Cinematic Universe and more. Given the success of X-Men, it launched a franchise all its own, with X2: X-Men United releasing in 2003, followed by X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006.

However, as this year marks the 20th anniversary of X-Men, it's difficult not to also reflect on the legacy left by Singer himself, who has faced civil suits from teenage boys and young men who alleged the director sexually assaulted them. Singer has also faced other allegations of sexual misconduct over the years, most recently in 2019 when an article published by The Atlantic detailed 20 years of accusations. In addition to sexual misconduct, the director has been accused of inappropriate behavior on the sets of his movies. In fact, Singer was fired from Bohemian Rhapsody in 2017 for his behavior. Now, new details offer insight into on incident between Singer and the cast of X2.

Related: X-Men 2000 Was The First True Marvel Movie (But Its Legacy Is Spoiled)

In THR's retrospective on X-Men and Singer's history of on-set behavior, the publication details an incident on the set of X2 when the director got into a fight with producer Tom DeSanto over shutting down the production. DeSanto wanted to shut it down because Singer had taken an incapacitating narcotic, as had members of the crew, and he was worried someone would be injured, but the director continued shooting anyway. They ended up shooting a stunt that wasn't meant to be filmed that day, and for which there was no stunt coordinator present; the failed stunt left Jackman bleeding on camera. When it seemed the studio was siding with Singer and told DeSanto to leave the set, the main cast - with the exceptions of Ian McKellen and Rebecca Romijn - confronted Singer and threatened to quit if DeSanto did actually leave. It was in this fight that Halle Berry told Singer, "You can kiss my Black ass." A representative for Singer told THR, "nothing like that ever happened;" DeSanto declined to comment on the fight.

Bryan Singer and Patrick Stewart on X-Men

This is far from the first story about Singer's unacceptable on-set behavior to come to light in the last few years. In addition to the trouble on the set of Bohemian Rhapsody, Brandon Routh spoke up about working on Singer's 2006 movie Superman Returns, saying the director was "difficult" with others. Prior to that, X-Men: Apocalypse star Sophie Turner said Singer was unpleasant and co-star Olivia Munn recounted when Singer left the production for 10 days, saying it wasn't normal for a movie. Altogether, there have been many instances of Singer behaving unacceptably on the sets of his films, dating back to X2 in the early 2000s and it's difficult not to wonder how many unpleasant experiences could have been prevented if the director had been held accountable and faced consequences while filming X-Men 2.

Instead, Hollywood and X-Men studio 20th Century Fox allowed Singer's actions to go unpunished, paving the way for the director to continue acting inappropriately on set for decades. Thankfully, as part of the Time's Up and MeToo movements, folks are finally starting to feel comfortable coming forward with their accounts of Hollywood power players abusing their power over actors and crew members on sets of movies and TV shows. Though Singer has faced sexual misconduct accusations for decades and his terrible on-set behavior has been excused in favor of his directing skill, that has begun to change in recent years. First he was fired from Bohemian Rhapsody, then his Red Sonja movie was shelved. As more details of incidents like the one on X2 come to light, though, it's not enough for Singer to finally face consequences. Hollywood must also take the necessary steps to preventing what happened to Jackman and the X-Men 2 cast from ever happening again.

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Source: THR