Mark Frost talks FF2

[Retroman]

From the Star Tribune:

Interview: Writer takes another 'Fantastic' voyage

Minnesotan Mark Frost warmed quickly to the notion of working on the "Fantastic Four" sequel "Rise of the Silver Surfer."

By Jeff Strickler, Star Tribune

Last update: June 08, 2007 – 3:35 PM

The call to Mark Frost from his agent in 2003 started out, "This might seem like a crazy idea."
The agent was suggesting that he think about writing the script for the live-action version of "Fantastic Four." As far as Frost was concerned, the only crazy part about the suggestion was that he would need time to think about it.

"I was a huge fan [of the comic books] as a kid," he said. "I collected lots of comic books, but especially those."

Frost, an expatriate Minnesotan who co-created TV's "Twin Peaks," returned to the Fan 4 fold to co-write the sequel, "Rise of the Silver Surfer." The movie, which opens Friday, was a different sort of project from the 2005 original.

"The studio had very strong notions about what this should be," he said. "In a way, that made it easier [to write] because the scope was narrower. This movie was very studio-driven, and you have to go with that."

It helped that Frost strongly agreed with the studio's decision to introduce the Silver Surfer, who has the ability to channel beams of energy. The Surfer also has superhuman strength, sight and hearing and, thanks to his silvery skin, can travel among planets.

"He was introduced in the third full year of the comic books and went on to become one of the most popular characters," Frost said, giving the impression that if the listener had the time, he could talk about "Fantastic Four" history for an hour. "He's actually more popular in Europe than the original Fantastic Four are. He's an iconic figure globally, which is one reason the studio chose to build this movie around him."

Frost, 53, began his writing career as a Minneapolis teenager when he wrote a play, "Between Looks," that was produced by the Guthrie Theater's high-school touring company. Since then, he has written a little bit of everything, from TV and movies to novels and a continuing series of nonfiction books about the history of golf.

"But this is very different process than what I'm used to," he said of the big-budget, special-effects-driven adventure. "This is like creating a blueprint for a big building. Once they put the building up, you're invited to the opening so you can say, 'I was part of this.'

"And I am just a part of what became a worldwide production. My work was done a year ago. I haven't even seen the whole movie yet, and I won't until the premiere."

Frost didn't spend the year just sitting around and waiting for the movie to be finished. For starters, he wrapped up work on a novel, "The Second Objective," a World War II thriller that was published last month.

"It's based on a true story," he said. "But not much was known about it because the files were classified until only recently."

With the tide of the war starting to turn in the Allies' favor in 1944, Germany recruited a team of men who spoke English. They were outfitted in American uniforms and dropped behind the Allied lines.

"They were extensively trained," Frost said. "Some of them had even spent time undercover in POW camps studying American mannerisms."

Frost's book focuses on 20 Germans who were assigned to infiltrate Gen. Dwight Eisenhower's headquarters at Versailles and kill him.

"Eighteen of the men were caught right away," Frost said. "The other two were never found. My book speculates what might have happened to them."

He's also been researching the next book in his multi-volume golf history. "The Match," due to be published in the fall, follows "The Greatest Game Ever Played," which was made into a 2005 movie of the same name.

"I've worked my way up to the 1950s, which is more fun because I'm finally able to speak to people who are still alive," he said. "I had a wonderful interview with Byron Nelson."

Frost doesn't know what he'll tackle next. He's kicking around a theme for a TV series. And, of course, there's always talk about another "Fantastic Four" installment, although he's leaving that for other people to talk about.

"I know that it was conceived as a series, but the studio really didn't make a decision about doing a second movie until they saw how the first one did," he said. "And I don't think they'll make their minds up about whether there will be another movie until they see how this goes over."

And if he gets the call? Don't think that he might say "no" because that's, well, crazy.

"There are hundreds of other stories in the comic books" that could be used for movie fodder, he said excitedly.

Source Link:http://www.startribune.com/1553/story/1232754.html

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

I really hope he doesn't get the call for FF3--his writing for the first film was absolutely deplorable.

Plus, it really was DON PAYNE to realized FF2's script--Frost is getting overrated there and it's not fair.

 

[Grog]

I really hope he doesn't get the call for FF3--his writing for the first film was absolutely deplorable.

Plus, it really was DON PAYNE to realized FF2's script--Frost is getting overrated there and it's not fair.

Nuff' Said!

 

[Malus]

I really hope he doesn't get the call for FF3--his writing for the first film was absolutely deplorable.

Plus, it really was DON PAYNE to realized FF2's script--Frost is getting overrated there and it's not fair.

I agree 1000%.
I loved Twin Peaks (which was primarily Frost's creation) but keep this guy far away from the FF!
As far as concerned, Payne is our guy. Even if they decide to go with a new director, I hope and pray that Don Payne scripts FF3.

 

[Nokio]

I hope this man is never brought on board a comic project again. I still remain lost on to why some of these studios never consult thw writers and artists who work on these comics, and most have done good runs for years.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

I really hope he doesn't get the call for FF3--his writing for the first film was absolutely deplorable.

Plus, it really was DON PAYNE to realized FF2's script--Frost is getting overrated there and it's not fair.

I was really annoyed listening to MF (those are some unfortunate initials, aren't they ) on the commentary of the director's cut and hearing him talk about all the problems he created because he thought they would work better ("Doom as a monarch really wouldn't have worked, so we made him a modern day monarch - a business tycoon")

I think 90% of the worst problems of the first film - many of which were carried over into the second film - came from Mark Frost and his belief that he could create better characters than Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

 

[Malus]

I was really annoyed listening to MF on the commentary of the director's cut and hearing him talk about all the problems he created because he thought they would work better ("Doom as a monarch really wouldn't have worked, so we made him a modern day monarch - a business tycoon")

I think 90% of the worst problems of the first film - many of which were carried over into the second film - came from Mark Frost and his belief that he could create better characters than Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

He said that?? Doesn't he realize his ruination of Doom has been this franchise's greatest liability? Talk about clueless.

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

Mark Frost is a disgusting thing!!

 

[Bishop2]

I was really annoyed listening to MF (those are some unfortunate initials, aren't they ) on the commentary of the director's cut and hearing him talk about all the problems he created because he thought they would work better ("Doom as a monarch really wouldn't have worked, so we made him a modern day monarch - a business tycoon")

Yeah, that pissed me off too. I was like "uh, WHY wouldn't it have worked?" Siiiiigh.

P.S. The "extended edition" is not a director's cut. Tim Story does not agree with it. It's just some random jackass' cut.

 

[Iron Maiden]

I hope this man is never brought on board a comic project again. I still remain lost on to why some of these studios never consult thw writers and artists who work on these comics, and most have done good runs for years.

I think it all depends on belonging the various guilds or unions. It is my understanding you have to belong to them to get any work at a major studio. Look how Rodriguez got kicked out of the Director's guild for giving Frank Miller a co-directing credit on Sin City. JMS is on the short list for the any Silver Surfer follow up movie.... his work on the FF comic was just so-so, nothing great.... but he's belongs to the union so he can work in TV and films.

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

He said that?? Doesn't he realize his ruination of Doom has been this franchise's greatest liability? Talk about clueless.

Agreed.

That's why when I hear certain people say they are "great fans of the comic" I often find myself (i.e. at Brett Ratner's BS statements about how he was faithful to the raptorless Phoenix saga in X3, etc.,). REAL fandom would be readily seen in their products and comments. And you don't have to be a diehard, longtime reader of the comics to have genuine passion for it. Such passion bleeds through the comments and performances.

Just a few examples.

REAL Fantastic Four fans:
1.) Tim Story
2.) Don Payne
3.) Jessica Alba
4.) Michael Chicklis

The following individuals more or less look at this franchise as a job to get $$$. There's no real affinity for the source material--they are just playing a role. Others on this list have proven they will ****e out important concepts or take gross liberties to please studio executives, or to meet the demands of the bottom line:

Passive Fantastic Four fans:
6.) Julian McMahon
7.) Ioan Gruffudd

FAUX Fantastic Four "fans":
8.) Avi Arad
9.) Mark Frost

 

[Bishop2]

Agreed.

That's why when I hear certain people say they are "great fans of the comic" I often find myself (i.e. at Brett Ratner's BS statements about how he was faithful to the raptorless Phoenix saga in X3, etc.,). REAL fandom would be readily seen in their products and comments. And you don't have to be a diehard, longtime reader of the comics to have genuine passion for it. Such passion bleeds through the comments and performances.

Just a few examples.

REAL Fantastic Four fans:
1.) Tim Story
2.) Don Payne
3.) Jessica Alba
4.) Michael Chicklis

The following individuals more or less look at this franchise as a job to get $$$. There's no real affinity for the source material--they are just playing a role. Others on this list have proven they will ****e out important concepts or take gross liberties to please studio executives, or to meet the demands of the bottom line:

Passive Fantastic Four fans:
6.) Julian McMahon
7.) Ioan Gruffudd

FAUX Fantastic Four "fans":
8.) Avi Arad
9.) Mark Frost

I disagree with your organization because of three reasons. Firstly because of how much enthusiasm Ioan has shown for being a superhero and being recognized by kids and having them pull on his arms. He may not know much about the characters as they originated, but he's got an enthusiasm for this part and seemed to be one of the most excited (aside from Chiklis) to meet Stan Lee. If it came down to the possibility of doing a fourth film in the series, I'm confident he'd be the first one to sign the contract just for the thrill of entertaining families and being a larger-than-life iconic character again.

And Julian, well, at least he watched the Fantastic Four cartoons as a kid. Although obviously he is willing to do what the studio tells him... then again, why wouldn't he? It IS a job and you DO Have to do what they say. He went into the movie trying to do an Eastern European accent for Doom, and they shot him down.

Alba, on the other hand, had no real knowledge of the source material before getting the part, and doesn't seem to be as excited about the movies as Chiklis or Gruffud, so I'm not sure how she got such a high rank.

I'd also toss Evans into the middle tier. Sometimes he seems to appreciate it, sometimes he seems to resent it and wish it would all just grow up. And he also, again, knows nothing of the source material.

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

I disagree with your organization because of three reasons. Firstly because of how much enthusiasm Ioan has shown for being a superhero and being recognized by kids and having them pull on his arms. He may not know much about the characters as they originated, but he's got an enthusiasm for this part and seemed to be one of the most excited (aside from Chiklis) to meet Stan Lee. If it came down to the possibility of doing a fourth film in the series, I'm confident he'd be the first one to sign the contract just for the thrill of entertaining families and being a larger-than-life iconic character again.

And Julian, well, at least he watched the Fantastic Four cartoons as a kid. Although obviously he is willing to do what the studio tells him... then again, why wouldn't he? It IS a job and you DO Have to do what they say. He went into the movie trying to do an Eastern European accent for Doom, and they shot him down.

Alba, on the other hand, had no real knowledge of the source material before getting the part, and doesn't seem to be as excited about the movies as Chiklis or Gruffud, so I'm not sure how she got such a high rank.

I'd also toss Evans into the middle tier. Sometimes he seems to appreciate it, sometimes he seems to resent it and wish it would all just grow up. And he also, again, knows nothing of the source material.

I'm taking into account all that I've heard from these people from July 2004 to present. We did not hear very much from anyone on this production--the interviews, etc., were all cut in half for FF2 (along with the promotion obviously).

Jessica is thrilled to be playing IW. It's a role unlike anything she's ever done, and she's said on countless times how thankful she is that this character has prevented her from being pigeon-holed into playing the "kick-ass hot girl" all the time.

I honestly don't believe Julian knows anything about Dr. Doom. Not one iota. It's easy to "say" you watched the cartoons, but if I were to press his knowledge of even the basics, he'd falter, trust me. They shot his European accent down because he sounded terrible (I HEARD the clip...total Halle Berry/2000 X-Men flashback).

And I'm not saying that Ioan doesn't care for the film. He obviously has some enthusiasm--but it doesn't rank as highly as the aforementioned IMO.

 

[svengalimonkey]

There is a clip of Mcmahon doing accents somewhere?

 

[Kelly]

There is a clip of Mcmahon doing accents somewhere?

LOL, that wasn't the main problem.....

 

[Bishop2]

There is a clip of Mcmahon doing accents somewhere?

I want this as well.

I also remember Ioan saying back in April that he wanted to make it to comic-con this year to connect with the FF fans. I wonder if he'll be there.

 

[antariss]

Agreed.

That's why when I hear certain people say they are "great fans of the comic" I often find myself (i.e. at Brett Ratner's BS statements about how he was faithful to the raptorless Phoenix saga in X3, etc.,). REAL fandom would be readily seen in their products and comments. And you don't have to be a diehard, longtime reader of the comics to have genuine passion for it. Such passion bleeds through the comments and performances.

Just a few examples.

REAL Fantastic Four fans:
1.) Tim Story
2.) Don Payne
3.) Jessica Alba
4.) Michael Chicklis

The following individuals more or less look at this franchise as a job to get $$$. There's no real affinity for the source material--they are just playing a role. Others on this list have proven they will ****e out important concepts or take gross liberties to please studio executives, or to meet the demands of the bottom line:

Passive Fantastic Four fans:
6.) Julian McMahon
7.) Ioan Gruffudd

FAUX Fantastic Four "fans":
8.) Avi Arad
9.) Mark Frost

No offense Lightening, but I think the premise of your fan categorising is a little unfounded and a bit too subjective.How can we know for sure who is a fan or not (judging by some of the hate for the movies on these boards some would question if those people even like the source material).

Each one of these individuals had a different role and responsibility to play in bringing these franchise to life but in my opinion fandom only affetcs this so far. For eg Julian McMahon (professed fan) is paid to act his role not write his dialogue or his scenes; maybe he disagreed with Tim about the portrayl but was itold to shut up and act. Frost on the other hand had a greater role in the end product, but as he stated in the recent interview he can only write according to Fox's vision. These guy's have to make business decisions and reach a wide audience with a property that they were not sure would be taken serious in this generation (and thought they could lose a bundle).

I mean, Avi Arad as you know championed this franchise from the start and made sure we didn't get another 1994 Roger Corman like end product. With Mark Frost, after hearing the audio interview he did with Creative Screenwriting magazine around the time of the first movies release, it was clear that he approached the project as a standard professional sreenwriter. Not everything translates from one medium to another, i don't agree with his decisions but he made them from the place of a professional writer and not only as a fan of the comics.

What Imean by this is screenwriters always talk about the ties to the protagonist and the journey of the character and subtext,blah,blah,blah. It is possible to be a fan of a source material but make something that translates differently; whether that is right or wrong is another issue, but i'm just not sure why this would equate to Frost not being a 'true fan'.

Introducing Doom would always have been tricky; how convenient would it have been if classic Doom just appeared mid-way through the first film to threaten global peace just as the FF have conveniently got their superpowers? The audience needs to build a rapport with the villain and see character development as much as the hero(s).

 

[Kelly]

No offense Lightening, but I think the premise of your fan categorising is a little unfounded and a bit too subjective.How can we know for sure who is a fan or not (judging by some of the hate for the movies on these boards some would question if those people even like the source material).

Each one of these individuals had a different role and responsibility to play in bringing these franchise to life but in my opinion fandom only affetcs this so far. For eg Julian McMahon (professed fan) is paid to act his role not write his dialogue or his scenes; maybe he disagreed with Tim about the portrayl but was itold to shut up and act. Frost on the other hand had a greater role in the end product, but as he stated in the recent interview he can only write according to Fox's vision. These guy's have to make business decisions and reach a wide audience with a property that they were not sure would be taken serious in this generation (and thought they could lose a bundle).

I mean, Avi Arad as you know championed this franchise from the start and made sure we didn't get another 1994 Roger Corman like end product. With Mark Frost, after hearing the audio interview he did with Creative Screenwriting magazine around the time of the first movies release, it was clear that he approached the project as a standard professional sreenwriter. Not everything translates from one medium to another, i don't agree with his decisions but he made them from the place of a professional writer and not only as a fan of the comics.

What Imean by this is screenwriters always talk about the ties to the protagonist and the journey of the character and subtext,blah,blah,blah. It is possible to be a fan of a source material but make something that translates differently; whether that is right or wrong is another issue, but i'm just not sure why this would equate to Frost not being a 'true fan'.

Introducing Doom would always have been tricky; how convenient would it have been if classic Doom just appeared mid-way through the first film to threaten global peace just as the FF have conveniently got their superpowers? The audience needs to build a rapport with the villain and see character development as much as the hero(s).

Subjectivity and Opinions is what makes the forum go round and round.....that is simply his opinion from what he has gleaned from articles, interviews etc over the past 3 years.....

 

[Spider - Man]

From the Star Tribune:

The call to Mark Frost from his agent in 2003 started out, "This might seem like a crazy idea."
The agent was suggesting that he think about writing the script for the live-action version of "Fantastic Four." As far as Frost was concerned, the only crazy part about the suggestion was that he would need time to think about it.

Source Link:http://www.startribune.com/1553/story/1232754.html

He obviously thought that the idea of taking time to think about it was TOO crazy and therefore chose not to.

 

[Malus]

He obviously thought that the idea of taking time to think about it was TOO crazy and therefore chose not to.

Hilarious and sadly spot-on.

"Doom as a monarch really wouldn't have worked" GAHHH!

 

[batdude]

If Mark Frost really said that on DVD commentary, He should get a lot more of the blame than he's been getting!

 

[Fantastic-Boy]

Thanks!

 

[Iron Maiden]

Hilarious and sadly spot-on.

"Doom as a monarch really wouldn't have worked" GAHHH!

So they watched Spider-Man instead .....

Didn't you just want to throw something at the TV when they said that? Yet in the same commentary, someone said Doom's origin would be worth its own movie in itself...

 

[Bishop2]

So they watched Spider-Man instead .....

Didn't you just want to throw something at the TV when they said that? Yet in the same commentary, someone said Doom's origin would be worth its own movie in itself...

It's obvious that the participants were not recorded together. Avi and Tim Story were recorded together, the writers were recorded together, but they weren't all in the same room. So they disagree on things.

It's also clear that the commentary was originally meant to be on the first release - because their comments on the deleted scenes make it clear that they're supposed to be from a separate "deleted scene" section...

 

[Tony Stark]

I was really annoyed listening to MF (those are some unfortunate initials, aren't they ) on the commentary of the director's cut and hearing him talk about all the problems he created because he thought they would work better ("Doom as a monarch really wouldn't have worked, so we made him a modern day monarch - a business tycoon")

I think 90% of the worst problems of the first film - many of which were carried over into the second film - came from Mark Frost and his belief that he could create better characters than Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

I'm sorry but put blame where blame is due. It was Avi Arad who pushed the change to Doom. I don't have the exact quote but he said other than Austin Powers you can't have a guy who wants to take over the world, so they made him something different.