Matthew Vaughn

Early life

Vaughn was born in Paddington on 7 March 1971. His mother was Kathy Ceaton (died 20 July 2013), daughter of electrical and property tycoon James Ceaton, and a former wife of Pakistani millionaire Javaid Saigol. Until 2002, Vaughn believed that he was the child of a relationship between his mother, a production manager and producer, and American actor Robert Vaughn. A paternity investigation in the 1980s revealed that Robert Vaughn was not his father, but Ceaton had never disclosed this to her son. an English banker, aristocrat and son of George Henry de Vere Drummond. Early in Vaughn's life, Robert Vaughn had asked for the child's surname to be the same as his, and Vaughn continues to be his professional name, though he uses de Vere Drummond in his personal life,

Vaughn's early education was at Sussex House School in central London, followed by Stowe School in Buckinghamshire. From 2017 until 2022, he was the president of the Old Stoics, a society for former students of Stowe School.

Career

Aged 25, Vaughn produced a low-budget thriller, The Innocent Sleep (1996), starring Annabella Sciorra and Michael Gambon. He continued as a producer on his friend Guy Ritchie's film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The film was a critical, popular and financial success, earning Vaughn and Ritchie £9 million each. Vaughn later produced Ritchie's Snatch and 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 (2006), but he dropped out only two weeks before filming began. Subsequently, he said the film was "pretty good" given the limited time they had to make it, but he was critical of Brett Ratner's direction of the film. For his next project he co-wrote and directed Stardust, followed by a movie adaptation of Mark Millar's Kick-Ass in 2010. Vaughn directed and co-wrote the first film in the prequel trilogy of the X-Men film universe titled X-Men: First Class (2011). Vaughn was signed to return to the series as director of the sequel, X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), but dropped out in favour of Bryan Singer who had directed the first two films in the original trilogy, X-Men and X2. Vaughn remained attached to the film by co-writing the script.

Vaughn's next directorial project, was Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), an adaptation of the comic book The Secret Service created by Millar and Dave Gibbons from a concept by Millar and an initially uncredited Vaughn himself (Vaughn being credited as the comic's co-creator on all republications since 2014). The film was scripted by Vaughn and Jane Goldman, and produced by Vaughn's production company Marv Films. Vaughn returned to direct, produce, and co-write the Kingsman sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, which was released in theaters in September 2017. Vaughn also directed and provided the story for The King's Man, the third instalment in the franchise serving as a prequel to the original film. Delayed from November 2019 due to both the schedule shuffle following Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox and the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic, the film was released on 22 December 2021.

In March 2017, Collider reported that Vaughn was top choice to direct Man of Steel 2; in September of that year, Vaughn confirmed that he was in negotiations with the studio to helm the project. By March 2019, Vaughn stated that discussions with Warner Bros. had ended, and he was no longer involved with development of the film.

Vaughn began working on spy film Argylle in 2021, an original story written by Jason Fuchs and starring an ensemble cast including Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Samuel L. Jackson, Bryan Cranston and John Cena. The film premiered in January 2024, and was released by Universal Pictures and Apple Original Films.

In January 2024, Vaughn announced that he would be producing a third Kick-Ass film, titled Stuntnuts Does School Fight, directed by his longtime stunt coordinator Damien Walters in his feature film debut, which had secretly already been greenlit and had completed filming. also announcing two further films in the Kick-Ass franchise to be in development, to be produced by him as a trilogy, under the working titles Vram and Kick-Ass.

In April 2025, Vaughn announced his involvement in a new film production studio, "UR•MARV", in collaboration with Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo.

Personal life

On 25 May 2002, Vaughn married German supermodel Claudia Schiffer in Suffolk. The couple have a son and two daughters, the youngest born in 2010. They have resided at Coldham Hall, Stanningfield, Suffolk, since 2002, and also have homes in Notting Hill, London and Northamptonshire.

Vaughn has identified himself politically as a conservative and a supporter of the Conservative Party. According to a 2015 article by The Guardian, Vaughn has served on the committee of a Tory fundraising ball, and had been one of the 103 signatories of a letter sent to The Daily Telegraph, that backed David Cameron and George Osborne’s lowering of the corporation tax and criticised Ed Miliband's attempt to introduce a law banning zero-hour contracts.

Vaughn was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2024 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours for services to the creative industries.

Vaughn is a minority stakeholder in English Premier league team Brentford FC.

Filmography

Film

Producer only

• The Innocent Sleep (1996)
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
• Snatch (2000)
• Mean Machine (2001)
• Swept Away (2002)
• A Short Film About John Bolton (2003)
• Harry Brown (2009)
• Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
• Fantastic Four (2015)
• Eddie the Eagle (2016)
• Rocketman (2019)
• Bloodshot (2020) (Executive producer)
• Silent Night (2021)
• Tetris (2023)
• Stuntnuts: The Movie (TBA)
• Stuntnuts Does School Fight (TBA)

Television

Executive producer

• Lock, Stock... (2000)
• Swag (2003)
• Make My Day (2003) (Documentary)

Video game

Producer

• Kick-Ass: The Game (2010)

Frequent collaborators

;Actors and actresses

;Film crew

References

References

1. (24 March 2010). "Vaughn hits out at fame obsession". Belfast Telegraph.
2. "Index entry". ONS.
3. (25 April 2002). "Vaughn's truth about son Matthew".
4. Hockney, Karen. (2012-04-12). "Vaughn's truth about son Matthew".
5. (2013-07-27). "Ambulance blocked on way to Schiffer's mother-in-law".
6. (3 October 2004). "Matthew Vaughn: The director's cut".
7. "CLAUDIA GETS A 'C' ON HER LABOR DAY".
8. having changed it by [[deed of change of name. (7 June 2002)
9. "Sussex House {{!}} About Sussex House".
10. "Old Stoics - About".
11. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2004/09/17/matthew_vaughn_layer_cake_interview.shtml "Movies – Interviews: Matthew Vaughn"], bbc.co.uk; retrieved 22 June 2012.
12. "Interview Matthew Vaughn".
13. Hiscock, John. (5 October 2007). "Matthew Vaughn: The Brit who's making the stars shine". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
14. Fleming, Mike. (4 May 2010). "Fox Signs Vaughn To Direct 'X-Men: First Class'".
15. Child, Ben. (31 January 2012). "Matthew Vaughn to direct sequel to X-Men: First Class". The Guardian.
16. Phegley, Kiel. (10 January 2012). "Millarworld Exclusive: Inside "''The Secret Service''"".
17. Fleming, Mike Jr.. (27 March 2013). "Update: Fox Wins Rights To Matthew Vaughn's Next Pic 'The Secret Service', Sets November 2014 Release Date".
18. (25 July 2013). "Matthew Vaughn Eyes Newcomer Taron Egerton for 'Secret Service' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety.
19. (27 June 2013). "Who Will Team Up With Colin Firth in Matthew Vaughn's 'Secret Service'?". Variety.
20. (2 August 2013). "Samuel L. Jackson to Play Villain in Matthew Vaughn's 'Secret Service' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety.
21. (5 September 2013). "Sophie Cookson Lands Female Lead in Matthew Vaughn's 'Secret Service' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety.
22. Fleming, Mike. "Matthew Vaughn's 'The Secret Service' Gets A Femme Fatale in Sofia Boutella".
23. Chitwood, Adam. (13 March 2017). "Warner Bros. Eyeing Matthew Vaughn to Direct Man of Steel 2". [[Collider (website).
24. Lyus, Jon. (15 September 2017). "Matthew Vaughn Confirms Talks for the Next Superman Film". HeyUGuys.
25. Han, Karen. (30 May 2019). "Rocketman producer Matthew Vaughn explains what his Man of Steel 2 may have looked like".
26. Wiseman, Andreas. (8 July 2021). "Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bryan Cranston, Dua Lipa, Samuel L. Jackson, John Cena, Catherine O'Hara Set For New Matthew Vaughn Spy Franchise 'Argylle'".
27. (4 August 2021). "Apple Lands Matthew Vaughn's Star-Studded Spy Film 'Argylle' In Massive Package Deal".
28. Massoto, Erick. (January 24, 2024). "'Kick-Ass' Reboot Will Be Part of a New Trilogy [Exclusive]". [[Collider (website).
29. Ramachandran, Naman. (April 9, 2025). "Cristiano Ronaldo Teams With Director Matthew Vaughn for Film Studio Venture UR•Marv (EXCLUSIVE)". [[Variety (magazine).
30. "Claudia Schiffer unveils her debut collection". Vogue.
31. Michaud, Sarah. (15 January 2010). "Claudia Schiffer Expecting Third Child". [[People (magazine).
32. "Claudia Schiffer names new baby daughter".
33. "Celebrity couple's love for Suffolk". East Anglian Daily Times.
34. . (May 22, 2001). ["Film producer gives credit to the Tories"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1331187/Film-producer-gives-credit-to-the-Tories.html). *[[The Daily Telegraph]]*.
35. . (April 1, 2015). ["The Tory 100: captains of industry, party donors (and a few tax avoiders)"](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2015/apr/01/tory-100-industry-captains-party-donors-tax-avoiders). *The Guardian*.
36. (April 1, 2015). "Donors and peers among signatories of pro-Tory business letter". The Guardian.
37. Dominiczak, Peter. (April 1, 2015). "100 business chiefs: Labour threatens Britain's recovery". The Daily Telegraph.
38. (11 April 2025). "Resignation Honours April 2025".
39. {{London Gazette. (28 July 2025)
40. "Brentford welcomes new investment".