Fant4stic "It's Clobberin' Time!" - The Ben "Thing" Grimm Thread

[wobbly]

Do Josh Trank ever use Twitter or say something about the movie other that "It's not true" / "It's totally false" / "I've never heard anything of that, so it's not correct" ?

I remembered when David Slade or Joe Carnahan tried to do Daredevil, you could feel from their tweet taht they had a lot of passion for their job on the character, even if it didn't work.

It's a strange game. Fox send rumor, and a seemingly p####d Josh Trank debunks the rumor one or two day later.

What's the purpose of this game ? Is it a way to prepare the public to a terrible movie, using false rumors, the worst possible, so when the actual movie will come out, it won't feel "that bad" ? Is it a message to Disney / Marvel ? Is it a way to p### Trank because they don't agree on the final product, and so he will be forced to "surrender" to want Fox want or will quit the movie direction by himself ?

It's really strange and not very engaging...

I find the whole thing all a bit odd too. Trank says next to nothing except to occasional stop playing COD with Bff MBJ to do some debunking. Millar shoots his mouth off about an awesome script nearly a year ago...and that gets an 11th hour re-write. Shooting dates pushed back & back again, dubious casting preferences, release date pushed back to a dubious slot at best...

I dunno, if this is some form of deliberate ploy it's certainly a odd one. The hype for this one at the moment is circling the pan.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

The hype for this one at the moment is circling the pan.

This could be the exact reason Trank feels the need to Tweet. Trank and others who actually know may be keeping very tight-lipped about the whole thing, but false rumors rush in to fill the vacuum and he feels he needs to at least address those to keep the negative buzz from getting out of hand.

If we take the optimistic opinion that all the things we've been hearing through the months that have upset us so much are completely false, it must be frustrating for Trank to read.

I can say that I, personally, have a more positive view of the possibility that this film might not suck based on Trank's Tweets than I would without them, so they are serving a purpose.

 

[wobbly]

This could be the exact reason Trank feels the need to Tweet. Trank and others who actually know may be keeping very tight-lipped about the whole thing, but false rumors rush in to fill the vacuum and he feels he needs to at least address those to keep the negative buzz from getting out of hand.

If we take the optimistic opinion that all the things we've been hearing through the months that have upset us so much are completely false, it must be frustrating for Trank to read.

I can say that I, personally, have a more positive view of the possibility that this film might not suck based on Trank's Tweets than I would without them, so they are serving a purpose.

But the thing is he doesn't tweet anything positive either. Just debunks a rumour then 'byye', that's your lot. Denial is all he does it seems.

Maybe it's just his thing, I don't know, but if I were in his shoes at this point, and after the bad buzz I'd be putting up non spoiler positive stuff, ie: "Simon's script is fantastic, the cast we are getting together will be awesome, the concept designs are incredible. Watch this space!!" Stuff like that.

At least try to build some hype. Personally, flat denials don't really encourage me.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Josh Gad is awful. While he certainly looks like a "thing," this might be the worst casting in comic book history if it proves true. They'll have to use camera tricks so he doesn't look like a rock hobbit.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

But the thing is he doesn't tweet anything positive either. Just debunks a rumour then 'byye', that's your lot. Denial is all he does it seems.

Maybe it's just his thing, I don't know, but if I were in his shoes at this point, and after the bad buzz I'd be putting up non spoiler positive stuff, ie: "Simon's script is fantastic, the cast we are getting together will be awesome, the concept designs are incredible. Watch this space!!" Stuff like that.

At least try to build some hype. Personally, flat denials don't really encourage me.

My guess (and it's only a guess - who knows, this might not even be his real twitter account), is Fox would probably prefer he said nothing - he's not involved in marketing and that's the job of the marketing department. (Fox probably also would have preferred Millar had not said anything . . . and that's probably why we saw him quickly shut up.) Anything anyone says - even if it's well intentioned - could cause problems.

But as long as he's just giving quick denials, Fox probably won't come down on him. If he did start trying to 'sell' the film, they'd probably tell him to leave that to the people who are professionals in that area.

In fact, if at some point we start seeing Tweets more like the ones you're suggesting, it will be likely that those were written by marketing people and not Trank himself.

 

[wobbly]

My guess (and it's only a guess - who knows, this might not even be his real twitter account), is Fox would probably prefer he said nothing - he's not involved in marketing and that's the job of the marketing department. (Fox probably also would have preferred Millar had not said anything . . . and that's probably why we saw him quickly shut up.) Anything anyone says - even if it's well intentioned - could cause problems.

But as long as he's just giving quick denials, Fox probably won't come down on him. If he did start trying to 'sell' the film, they'd probably tell him to leave that to the people who are professionals in that area.

In fact, if at some point we start seeing Tweets more like the ones you're suggesting, it will be likely that those were written by marketing people and not Trank himself.

Possible I suppose, but you look at other Directors on Twitter they aint nearly so 'gun-shy' so to speak. They show some enthusiasm for the project they are currently working on. They don't just debunk the latest crappy rumour and say nothing else.

Even the other people commenting/conversing with that twitter account (if it is Trank at all... ho knows?) have made blatant fun of him just being a hired debunker. 'Wrong'. 'Not true'. 'First I've heard of it'...etc etc.

So for me that Twitter account is a bit of a joke at the moment. If it is indeed Trank then I think he needs to up his game there, or just stay away from it. Not doing himself any favours imo.

 

[wobbly]

Josh Gad is awful. While he certainly looks like a "thing," this might be the worst casting in comic book history if it proves true. They'll have to use camera tricks so he doesn't look like a rock hobbit.

Ben Grimm (either 616 or Ultimate) was a college athlete on a football scholarship.

Afaik, I don't think they do scholarships for eating doughnuts?

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

Possible I suppose, but you look at other Directors on Twitter they aint nearly so 'gun-shy' so to speak. They show some enthusiasm for the project they are currently working on. They don't just debunk the latest crappy rumour and say nothing else.

Even the other people commenting/conversing with that twitter account (if it is Trank at all... ho knows?) have made blatant fun of him just being a hired debunker. 'Wrong'. 'Not true'. 'First I've heard of it'...etc etc.

So for me that Twitter account is a bit of a joke at the moment. If it is indeed Trank then I think he needs to up his game there, or just stay away from it. Not doing himself any favours imo.

Could be his personality or it could be the fear we've had from the beginning that Fox has him on a tight leash. I'm sure he thinks the film will be cool, so whether he specifically says that or not doesn't mean much.

Bottom line for me is that synopsis and the idea of Miles Teller as Reed made me think this would be a terrible film. Nothing that has come from the Twitter account has given me the kind of agita those rumors did, so while his tweets may not give us a warm fuzzy and while they may raise more questions than they answer, at least they're not scaring me the way some rumors have.

I just tweeted him to see if he can tell us when the real cast will be announced, so we'll see if he responds. My money is on no, but that may at least give us an idea if he's willing to provide any actual information or prefers to just shoot down misinformation.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

Ben Grimm (either 616 or Ultimate) was a college athlete on a football scholarship.

Afaik, I don't think they do scholarships for eating doughnuts?

 

[BETArayBill]

Ben Grimm (either 616 or Ultimate) was a college athlete on a football scholarship.

Afaik, I don't think they do scholarships for eating doughnuts?

Bwahahaha t: very true I don't think there's a sport for hoagie curling yet

 

[Endeavor]

Josh Gad is awful. While he certainly looks like a "thing," this might be the worst casting in comic book history if it proves true. They'll have to use camera tricks so he doesn't look like a rock hobbit.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Ben Grimm (either 616 or Ultimate) was a college athlete on a football scholarship.

Yeah, but wouldn't you rather have Ben Grimm be short and fat and annoying? Who doesn't love that?

If they can't get Gad, they should go for Jack Black!

 

[Donut]

FOX is 2 cheap 2 get someone like Jack Black

 

[TX85]

I don't know anything about this Josh Gad guy but just seen him in pictures..Damn!,I guess I shouldn't be judging though since I haven't seen any of his work and he would mostly be in a rock suit anyway but..Damn!

 

[Kevin Smith]

Yeah, but wouldn't you rather have Ben Grimm be short and fat and annoying? Who doesn't love that?

If they can't get Gad, they should go for Jack Black!

I liked his comment and have nothing against him personally and wish him well in his endeavors, but holy **** is he all wrong for The Thing.

This movie needs to die already - someone needs to save the FF.

 

[Brian Braddock]

Yet again, they go after a guy that looks more like the Thing than Ben Grimm. They just dont get it, do they?

 

[Spider-Fan83]

Josh Gad is awful. While he certainly looks like a "thing," this might be the worst casting in comic book history if it proves true. They'll have to use camera tricks so he doesn't look like a rock hobbit.

I guess that depends if he'll be in a costume or be CG'd, if the Thing is going to be a full CG character, Gad does at least have voice acting experiences, if he is only seen as Ben for the first few minutes of the movie... but, still, even that might be too much

 

[Rowsdower!]

Indeed, seeing Josh Gad for any amount of time is too much.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

I guess that depends if he'll be in a costume or be CG'd, if the Thing is going to be a full CG character, Gad does at least have voice acting experiences, if he is only seen as Ben for the first few minutes of the movie... but, still, even that might be too much

They could even use two different actors. Chiklis changed his voice enugh going from Ben to The Thing that they could have one actor for Ben and a completely different voice-actor for The Thing.

 

[bapi]

Looks like Trank did look at Sam Riley.

 

[conan69]

 

[The IronMan]

Domenick Lombardozzi from Breakout Kings would make a great Ben Grimm.

 

[FVD]

Here is the next rumour - Jamie Bell?! Really?!

http://www.thewrap.com/20th-century-fox-finally-found-fantastic-four-exclusive/

 

[Sawyer]

I didn't see this coming.

Like, I would literally have never even thought of it. In a million years.

 

[Six]

Is it april the first already? Or are they just trying to sabotage their own movie?