In case it hasn't been made pretty clear already, Josh Trank and 20th Century Fox's version of the Fantastic Four is going to be totally different from anything we've seen before. And that includes anything we've seen in the comics pages. And it goes far beyond the mixed casting of Kate Mara, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell as Marvel's "first family" of superheroes; they are going to be different in other fundamental ways. And at least according to Teller, who will play brainiac Reed Richards, it's because of those changes that he was convinced to come aboard. He recently told Vulture...
Teller: “It’s different in every way. All those actors were a lot older, their characters were in different places. The tone of this film is completely different: We don’t have Michael Chiklis in a big Styrofoam thing, and I think that [a more grounded approach] is what people are into — X-Men: First Class is doing that. You’re dealing with these characters but you’re making them real people in how they exist day-to-day. People wanted it to be taken more seriously than the kind of Dick Tracy, kitschy, overly comic-book world.”
He went on to talk to MTV about how Trank had to really fight for the cast he wanted, and sell Fox on the approach.
Teller: “I ended up meeting Josh [Trank] a year before and the script was going through some stuff. Then I tested for the role of Reed Richards; I think I'm the only person that did. But absolutely, it took a lot of convincing. For me with Reed Richards, I know Josh [Trank] really had to [pull for me]. Josh did for all of the characters. For Jamie [Bell], he really vouched for [him]. For [Jordan], he was like, ‘This is my guy’ from the bat. He was very specific on who he wanted to play these characters. I was his guy for it."
Trank might have known Michael B. Jordan was his guy, but having an African-American as the typically white Human Torch has pissed a lot of people off. Then again these are the same folks who cried about Idris Elba as Heimdall. Friggin' Heimdall. Nobody cares about Heimdall. Anyway, Jordan has always taken the criticism in stride, and he continued to do so while speaking with the New York Daily News...
Jordan: “I don’t think about it. Can’t make everybody happy. I loved comic books. Japanese animation, cartoons, so to be able to play a character that I always fantasized about and always wanted to be — to have powers and stuff like that — and to be a part of Marvel’s family, it’s a huge deal for me. I’ve known about this character and playing this role for almost two and a half years now. So when I get all these new questions about how I’m feeling about it, I’m like, ‘You know, I’m feeling pretty good about it.’”
Short of a couple of set photos showing the Thing and Toby Kebbell's Doctor Doom, Fantastic Four has been kept completely under wraps, not even making an appearance at Comic-Con. And perhaps that's because Trank wants to keep the team's new look a secret for as long as possible because according to Jordan even the costumes will be different. He tells ABC News...
Jordan: "It's a new look. We are all in containment suits. The costume process definitely took some time to get in and out of that thing, especially since I was bulking up. It was a little more snug during filming. We got through it man. It was a process, but we did it. It was hard work."
So basically, don't count on anything being as you remember it. And don't count on Marvel giving this movie much in the way of support. Rumors have been swirling for months that Marvel/Disney would be ceasing any promotion of the Fantastic Four so as not to help their rivals at Fox, who own the film rights. Marvel's decision would include cancelling the Fantastic Four comic book, removing the characters from posters, toys, promo art, everything. Bleeding Cool has now confirmed this to be true, and it's an unprecedented move for the company to make. And at least in my opinion it's the first shot across the bow at studios who took advantage of Marvel's bankruptcy years ago and acquired the rights to some of their prominent characters.
Of course, it's easy for Marvel to do this with Fantastic Four because the comic doesn't sell all that much, but would they dare do the same with Spider-Man, whose rights are now owned by Sony? What about the X-men, another Fox film property? Probably not, but then again they did just kill off Wolverine, the X-men's most popular character.
Anyway, the Fantastic Four reboot is set to open August 7th 2015.
