The Fantastic Four reboot has split opinions (even though it’s still months away from being released), with some fans excited to see Chronicle director Josh Trank’s new take on the property and others wishing Marvel had the rights back already. When Empire Magazine caught up with the filmmaker recently, he had this to say about how his version of Marvel’s First Family will differ to both the last attempt and other unnamed recent releases. “The original two films to me are very similar to a lot of recent movies that have come out, in terms of that kind of cartoonish. It’s just not something that me and Simon are interested in as storytellers.” In fact, anyone expecting an action packed movie along the lines of The Avengers might be disappointed with Fantastic Four, as Trank has a very different interpretation of their adventures it seems. “There’s the opportunity to make something that is challenging and tragic and dramatic,” he said. “The opportunity is right there in the material. We’d rather steer it in that direction as opposed to just embracing a tone that comes right off the page.” That last comment might not sit well with some comic book fans…
Regardless, Trank’s vision for each member of the team is pretty interesting, and after praising Miles Teller’s intelligence and resemblence to the comic book version of Reed Richards, he talked more about the “controversy” surrounding his decision to chance the race of Johnny Storm. “I have mixed family,” he said. “When I go home for Christmas, you’ll see white people and black people. That’s normal to me. I wanted a Storm family that represented 21st century families.” For Sue then, Trank also wanted to update her from the classic comics, adding: “There have always been two categories of Sue – the slutty secretary version, and this brilliant scientist version. This is a really, really smart Sue, and one that is dignified and has integrity.”
For Ben Grimm/The Thing, it sounds like he’s sticking a lot closer to the comic books, as Trank went on to discuss the relationship between him and Reed as well as what makes Jamie Bell the right man to play the character. “Ben is supposed to be a smaller guy in terms of height. That idea of Ben being Reeds best friend in the archetypical way, you want that character to have warmth and strength, qualities Jamie has.” The director then confirmed that what we saw in the trailer was a “transformation cocoon” that The Thing punches his way out of. At that point, the character will be portayed almost entirely with the use of motion capture effects. As for whether or not Trank will pay homage to the comic books by including elements like Reed’s greying temples, he would only tease: “There are surprisises for everybody in the movie. We’ve had time to figure out every single iconic and subtle aspect of the Fantastic 4, and how it can organically belong to this film.”
daily nerd access 