"My current theory is that they're killing off or forcing out anyone of note in the franchise to make more room for Halle Berry. She is after all an Oscar winner. In fact, I think that's been the plan all along. Maybe that's why Singer left. Fox is buying into the Berry hype." -- Joshua Tyler, Cinema Blend 06/29/05

This is why you people need Cinema Blend. The words of our immortal overlord nearly six weeks ago have pretty much just been confirmed by both Berry herself and sickeningly sychophantic screenwriter, Zak Penn. She has also pretty much confirmed that X3 will be the death-knell of the franchise.

Berry pouts; "I suffered through the two movies where die-hard fans would come up to me and say, 'How come you let them make Storm wimp out all the time?' As if I have any control. Last time I asked them to let Storm do something more than drive the plane, and she drove the plane. Storm is a formidable fighter in the comic books; she has a cape and can fly. I've never flown anywhere in two movies except behind the wheel of that plane. I'd hate to not be part of the final film, but I won't spend five months standing around, even though we all stand to get paid a lot of money this time."

Suffered? Nobody forced you to sign the dotted line Halle, I'm sure Vanessa Williams is still looking for work and would've been a bit more grateful and humble than your undeserved Oscar-winning arse.

X3's screenwriter panders shamelessly to Berry's ego by adding; "As one of the writers of the last film, I'd say it's true she ended up with mostly exposition and plane-flying. There was a whole sequence at the beginning of the last film that showed the origins of her character in Africa, and it got cut simply because there are 14 characters to service. But 'X3' has a couple of big twists, and Storm is right in the center of them. The fact that Halle is a very good actress who was underused compounds the wish for her to have a better role."

Whether the producers really wanted Berry running her mouth about this being the final movie is pretty unlikely, but it's becoming more clear after plenty of stropping and now without the firm hand of a no-nonsense director to curb her demands, X3 will now be more about pandering to one star's demands than it will be to completing the established story arc satisfactorialy.

Train-WreX3 hit cinemas next summer.