Fant4stic I think this deserves its own thread...Josh Trank denounces Fantastic Four

[BeserkerHilf]

He also sounds like a weirdo. Who holes themselves off in a tent like that? He seems like he's very difficult to work with and not a team player at all.

It's not uncommon for sets to have a director's tent for the explicit purpose of blocking out light on the monitors.

 

[TheComicbookKid]

Fox is doing a number on Trank in the press. Because these "sources" is definitely Fox.

1. Fox had no idea what it wanted.
2. Got a director with no idea what to do.
3. Ended up with a movie with no idea what it was.
4. Tried reshooting it with no idea how to fix it.
5. Still ended up with no actual movie.

Fox Is involved in every step yet Trank being an a-hole is the problem?

 

[The Infernal]

Fox is doing a number on Trank in the press. Because these "sources" is definitely Fox.

Yeah. Some if not most likely are. Though I gotta wonder if some of the more anti-Fox ones are partly due to Trank's new pitbull lawyer.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

"Those reshoots have been blamed for the poor quality of Fantastic Four, but the movie apparently didn't even have an ending when shooting concluded. Simon Kinberg and Hutch Parker scrambled to come up with something, but the former's busy schedule and the fact that much of the cast was unavailable led to "a lot of material was shot with doubles and the production moved to Los Angeles to film scenes with Teller against a green screen."

I have been intrigued by what the original film was - not because I believe Trank had something great, but I'm curious how different it could have been.

I mean we saw the shots of Doom with his blankie in the leaked photos, so that was always part of it and presumably there was always some sort of show-down on "Planet Zero" from the start. So it's not like that's what they added.

The original script must have had some sort of story and ending, right? I mean why would they have green-lit it if it didn't? You don't need to film the whole thing before realizing it doesn't have a story or ending. You should be able to tell that by reading the script and you shouldn't start shooting until the script provides a story that would have to be better than what this film gave.

As bad as this was, it seems at one time there was something worse, and I can't help but be curious about what could have possibly been worse.

 

[Dark Raven]

"Those reshoots have been blamed for the poor quality of Fantastic Four, but the movie apparently didn't even have an ending when shooting concluded. Simon Kinberg and Hutch Parker scrambled to come up with something, but the former's busy schedule and the fact that much of the cast was unavailable led to "a lot of material was shot with doubles and the production moved to Los Angeles to film scenes with Teller against a green screen."

I have been intrigued by what the original film was - not because I believe Trank had something great, but I'm curious how different it could have been.

I mean we saw the shots of Doom with his blankie in the leaked photos, so that was always part of it and presumably there was always some sort of show-down on "Planet Zero" from the start. So it's not like that's what they added.

The original script must have had some sort of story and ending, right? I mean why would they have green-lit it if it didn't? You don't need to film the whole thing before realizing it doesn't have a story or ending. You should be able to tell that by reading the script and you shouldn't start shooting until the script provides a story that would have to be better than what this film gave.

As bad as this was, it seems at one time there was something worse, and I can't help but be curious about what could have possibly been worse.

Maybe one of Trank's dogs ate the ending to the script.

 

[TheComicbookKid]

I wonder why they made sure to name drop Drew Goddard in this mess?

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

1. Fox had no idea what it wanted.
2. Got a director with no idea what to do.
3. Ended up with a movie with no idea what it was.
4. Tried reshooting it with no idea how to fix it.
5. Still ended up with no actual movie.

Fox Is involved in every step yet Trank being an a-hole is the problem?

This is a nice summation. And I've always felt it's not Trank's fault for having an awful vision of what this film should be. There are 100,000 people out there who would make an awful FF film, but Fox gave this particular one the opportunity to actually do it.

 

[TheComicbookKid]

"Those reshoots have been blamed for the poor quality of Fantastic Four, but the movie apparently didn't even have an ending when shooting concluded. Simon Kinberg and Hutch Parker scrambled to come up with something, but the former's busy schedule and the fact that much of the cast was unavailable led to "a lot of material was shot with doubles and the production moved to Los Angeles to film scenes with Teller against a green screen."

I have been intrigued by what the original film was - not because I believe Trank had something great, but I'm curious how different it could have been.

I mean we saw the shots of Doom with his blankie in the leaked photos, so that was always part of it and presumably there was always some sort of show-down on "Planet Zero" from the start. So it's not like that's what they added.

The original script must have had some sort of story and ending, right? I mean why would they have green-lit it if it didn't? You don't need to film the whole thing before realizing it doesn't have a story or ending. You should be able to tell that by reading the script and you shouldn't start shooting until the script provides a story that would have to be better than what this film gave.

As bad as this was, it seems at one time there was something worse, and I can't help but be curious about what could have possibly been worse.

The worst part is Trank's ego gets to stay intact cause his version will always be some mythical what if?

Creative people fail all the time. But they actually have to fail.

Ie. HULK, Tomorrowland, John Carter.

 

[VictorDomashev]

If Fox still made a sequel with this same cast. At least even the General Audience will also be against this movie this time from the start. I kind of dare Fox. Go ahead make a sequel you ****ers

 

[Dasher10]

Wait, so there wasn't ANY third act before the reshoots? That's Trank's vision which he says that Fox ruined? Wow.

 

[YourFewcha]

Wait, so there wasn't ANY third act before the reshoots? That's Trank's vision which he says that Fox ruined? Wow.

there probably was a third act but it wasn't one that fox wanted (superheroic lets save the world-esque)

 

[Eddie]

I wonder how much money THR is receiving from FOX.

Did you actually read the story? Fox doesn't come out very well either. The source makes it clear the film shouldn't have been made in the first place. Fox can't be happy with this.

 

[The Infernal]

Wait, so there wasn't ANY third act before the reshoots? That's Trank's vision which he says that Fox ruined? Wow.

Yeah. That punches a hole through Trank's tweeted defence. If there was no ending, there was no 'fantastic cut'.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Did you actually read the story?

Probably not.

Fox doesn't come out very well either. The source makes it clear the film shouldn't have been made in the first place. Fox can't be happy with this.

Yeah the idea that this is some paid piece to smear Trank is ludicrous. It makes Fox look just as conniving and inept as we've known them to be all along.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

Question: Is it possible this is largely about budget?

We saw a lot of things in the trailer that never made it to the final film that looked sort of good. The Thing Drop is a prime example. Did the original story include a lengthy scene with the Thing acting as a 'weapon' that had to be cut because it was too expensive?

We saw clips of a 'Fantasticar' that never made it to the final film.

It seems very difficult to look at the final product and believe that they actually 'fixed' much, but here's something I'm starting to consider.

Imagine this:

Josh Trank's first rough-cut didn't look very good. The acting was flat, the story was weak, the characterization was poor, etc. etc. etc. all things we saw in the final product, BUT he did have more action and CGI scenes that would have been expensive to create. The studio people realized this was never going to be a great movie and slashed the budget so some of those expensive scenes couldn't be included and then had to re-write and re-shoot many scenes to fill in the details to make a less expensive film. And that's why we got what we got.

Based on everything we have seen and know, I think that could explain a lot.

 

[Drz]

I wonder why they made sure to name drop Drew Goddard in this mess?

Yeah these new rumors keep piling up and adding more content. Matthew Vaughn and Drew Goddard have now both shot scenes for Fantastic Four, who's next?!

 

[starscream22]

Yeah. Some if not most likely are. Though I gotta wonder if some of the more anti-Fox ones are partly due to Trank's new pitbull lawyer.

"Pitbull lawyer" ay....Well I wanna see some real litigation between the two commence. I want it to be brutal and ugly. And once the dust settles the Mouses lawyers should be able to swoop in and use something from this to their advantage.

 

[Eddie]

Budget is certainly a factor. I think a primary reason the original shoot had more action that was never finished is OTOY. Trank pulled the wool over somebody's eyes and convinced them the effects could be rendered on the cheap. After switching things up with the effects, they probably couldn't afford to finish some of those CG heavy scenes.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

Budget is certainly a factor. I think a primary reason the original shoot had more action that was never finished is OTOY. Trank pulled the wool over somebody's eyes and convinced them the effects could be rendered on the cheap. After switching things up with the effects, they probably couldn't afford to finish some of those CG heavy scenes.

Yeah, I think we might be starting to get the whole picture. The film as-was ended up costing $122 million, so if we had those big action pieces, the budget could have ballooned to $150- $160 million.

Trank's film still would have been a bad film because it would have been similar to what we got up until the end, but I'm starting to think it might have been a better but much more expensive film than what we actually got. And that expense climbed far past what Fox had ever planned, so Fox had to choose between giving Trank a lot more money to finish his film (after they already didn't like what they were seeing) or find a way to cut their losses and keep things within a manageable budget.

So Fox drastically re-wrote it to cut out the expensive parts so they wouldn't be throwing as much money away on Trank's bad film, but those drastic re-writes and re-shoots were less about making the film better and more about not throwing millions more into that black-hole.

 

[lordofthenerds]

Were Trank's original 3 action scenes ever even filmed though? I thought I read that Fox slashed them during the scripting process.

The Thing being used as a weapon may or may not have not been one of those original action sets.

 

[Man in the Suit]

Yeah these new rumors keep piling up and adding more content. Matthew Vaughn and Drew Goddard have now both shot scenes for Fantastic Four, who's next?!

Matthew Vaughn was never mentioned by THR or another trade. I don't even know where that originated. Probably wasn't credible.

 

[Joe Rockhead]

Question: Is it possible this is largely about budget?

We saw a lot of things in the trailer that never made it to the final film that looked sort of good. The Thing Drop is a prime example. Did the original story include a lengthy scene with the Thing acting as a 'weapon' that had to be cut because it was too expensive?

We saw clips of a 'Fantasticar' that never made it to the final film.

It seems very difficult to look at the final product and believe that they actually 'fixed' much, but here's something I'm starting to consider.

Imagine this:

Josh Trank's first rough-cut didn't look very good. The acting was flat, the story was weak, the characterization was poor, etc. etc. etc. all things we saw in the final product, BUT he did have more action and CGI scenes that would have been expensive to create. The studio people realized this was never going to be a great movie and slashed the budget so some of those expensive scenes couldn't be included and then had to re-write and re-shoot many scenes to fill in the details to make a less expensive film. And that's why we got what we got.

Based on everything we have seen and know, I think that could explain a lot.

I can see where the ending might have been similar to what they have now-- where the 4 have to travel to planet zero after Doom, and that's when they go get the flying car instead of Sue transporting Reed and Ben.

The problem would be taking them away from the secret facility to get the car and figuring out a way to transport Ben who clearly was too big for the car in those images.

It would explain why Sue is barely able to keep a force field together and float before Doom makes his escape, but then she's flying around like a seasoned veteran when they have to follow him to planet zero.

 

[MadVillainy]

1. Fox had no idea what it wanted.
2. Got a director with no idea what to do.
3. Ended up with a movie with no idea what it was.
4. Tried reshooting it with no idea how to fix it.
5. Still ended up with no actual movie.

Fox Is involved in every step yet Trank being an a-hole is the problem?

It's not the problem. It is a problem.
No matter what is being thrown at you it doesn't give you the reason to treat others poorly.

And definitely treating other people poorly and being unprofessional can hurt a film. It doesn't happen all the time, but it still happens.

FOX is to blame for giving Trank the keys to the car, but there is a lot of blame on Trank for driving it poorly.

Neither is blameless.

 

[TheComicbookKid]

Did you actually read the story? Fox doesn't come out very well either. The source makes it clear the film shouldn't have been made in the first place. Fox can't be happy with this.

I don't think that's the point. Fox isn't trying to make themselves the good guy.

They just want fans to believe they can fix it with a sequel.

"We got rid of Trank. Now look what (probably Singer) can do." There was no reason to float that Singer/X-men rumor a month before release.

The MOS sequel being Batman-centric was floated after MOS was released.

As long as Trank was the problem then removing Trank should give people hope. Trank's movie..Trank's tone...Trank's inexperience.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Good Guy Trank berates Kate Mara and destroys private property.