Variety reported today that X-Men 3 has found a director in Matthew Vaughn, director of Layer Cake. Of course this isn’t really anything new, as most of the web had reported this last week - it is however confirmation, so Vaughn has moved from rumor status to unfortunate truth.

Layer Cake has yet to be released in the States, but it must be one hell of a film. The success of Vaughn’s directorial debut also put him on the list of potential directors for both the Harry Potter and Bond franchises, and landed him the X-Men sequel. Vaughn’s other Hollywood work includes producing for Guy Ritchie.

Variety also included that Hugh Jackman is definitely set to return as fan-favorite Wolverine, and that Fox was currently still in negotiations with Halle Berry (Storm), Ian McKellen (Magneto), and Patrick Stewart (Professor Xavier). Frankly, if I were Fox I would have waited to confirm Vaughn until after I had most of the original cast back. A lot of fans are beginning to get nervous about what could potentially be a disaster after the success of Bryan Singer’s two films. Knowing more than just Jackman was on board would help generate some better feelings about the film.