As
promised--The first trailer for "
Chronicle" director
Josh Trank's "
Fantastic Four" reboot is here.
The
comic book series follows four individuals--Reed Richards--
Mr. Fantastic (
Miles Teller),
Sue Storm --The Invisible Girl (
Kate Mara), her brother Johnny Storm--The
Human T/orch (
Fruitvale Station star
Michael B. Jordan), and
Ben Grimm The Thing (
Jamie Bell) who gained superpowers after exposure to cosmic rays during a scientific mission to outer space.
Saoirse Ronan ("
The Host")
Margot Robbie "
Girls" star
Allison Williams were rumored to be circling Invisible Girl last year.
Samira Wiley also denied Sue chatter. Mara and
Emmy Rossum were said to have both tested for Sue Storm;
Christian Cooke was eyed for Grimm. Actor
Josh Gad was rumored as well but that talk was denied via
Twitter
Reg E. Cathey will play Dr. Storm, the scientist father of Johnny and Sue. The film
will be a reunion for Cathey and Jordan, as Jordan got his start on the
cable series
The Wire.
Toby Kebbell has won the role of bad guy
Doctor Doom He beat out
Domhnall Gleeson,
Eddie Redmayne,
Sam Riley and
Jack Huston for the part.
Doom
is the son of a gypsy woman who ends up the ruler of a fictional
country named Latveria. His character history includes attending
university with Reed Richards, the man who will become the leader of the
Fantastic Four Like Richards, he is a genius but with an unchecked
ego.
The Nerdist reports that: "
Doombots will definitely be in the film, in the form of drones that the good Doctor controls telekinetically."
First
introduced in 1965, the DoomBots are robotic duplicates of Doctor Doom
which he used to do battle. Over the years they've taken on various
forms, which version we'll see in the film is uknown at present.
Julian McMahon played the character as Victor Von Doom in the previous big screen incarnations.
Tim Blake Nelson will play Harvey Elder, an eccentric and socially awkward scientist who is also the
Mole Man,
the leader of a subterranean group of monsters known as the Moloids.
The Mole Man will NOT appear in this movie but his appearance does set
up the character as a potential future villain.
This is not the first time Nelson has been in this position for a
Marvel-related movie. In 2008's "
The Incredible Hulk"
he played Samuel Sterns, a reclusive scientist who is seen mutating in
his final scenes which sets up the character's potential return as the
villain
The Leader.
Simon Kinberg ("
Sherlock Holmes," "
X-Men: Days of Future Past") recently finished scripting duties.
Jeremy Slater was
hired to pen the previous script draft.--that
Seth Grahame-Smith polished.
Michael Green ("
Green Lantern") also wrote a draft as well.
"
X-Men: First Class" and "
Kick-Ass" director
Matthew Vaughn signed on to produce the reset
The leads were previously portrayed by
Ioan Gruffudd,
Jessica Alba,
Chris Evans and
Michael Chiklis. The first
Fantastic Four in 2005 and its sequel
4: Rise of the Silver Surfer in 2007--both helmed by
Tim Story--grossed $620 million despite awful reviews (I liked em both!)
Fox
wants to restore some credibility and quality to the property, that is
currently targeting an August 7th.2015 release. Vancouver
lost out on the shoot for the upcoming reboot. The film's production took place in Louisiana due to tax incentives in place.
Trank spoke to
Collider about the film, calling it a "
hard sci-fi take" and one that "
falls in line more with a Cronenberg.-ian science fiction tale of something horrible happening to your body and [it]
transforming out of control." In the film the group teleport to an alternate universe, an act which alters their physical form.
Trank has dismissed all the reports about the film's production problems, saying "
the original shoot was seventy-two days and they were on-schedule and on-budget" and that the studio "
consciously decided to not release anything official" until now. The additional filming recently was for "
bits and pieces" and not a new ending as reported.
Writer/producer Kinberg says: "
Most comic book superhero movies are about a superhero protagonist or a superhero group, But they’re never really exploring what it is to be family. That’s something we really spent a long time talking about and putting into the film. I think that will differentiate us as well from all of the different superheroes and superhero groups out there."
The costumes seem very practical.
Nerdist has posted some sketches of what they dub the team's "
Act II suits" which they will don for most of the movie before slipping into their "
final, more classical superhero costumes". Said Act II suits include Mr. Fantastic's suit boasting fabric springs that snap his limbs back into place, and ventilation ports for Johnny Storm. These suits are designed so that the team can live normal lives without their powers being revealed.
Following the release of the trailer
writer/producer Kinberg talked about the deliberately vague
peek with
Empire:
We live in a time of spoilers As a result, any film showing any kind of
restraint with the marketing is somewhat of a rare thing. Kinberg says
the delays were deliberate:
"What we're doing is quite different, and we want people
to get a sense of it. There is a mystery, and the slow immersion into
that is part of the experience of what will ultimately be the movie. We
wanted it to feel different and represent what's unique about the film.
It has a little more restraint, maybe, than some other trailers these
days."
Kinberg also adds that part of the reason for keeping things so much
under wraps is that they're aware of all the scrutiny they're under and
so don't want anything half-finished leaking out:
"
We wanted the visual effects to be as complete as
possible. We know this movie is going to have a little more scrutiny
than most, and we wanted to make sure the visuals represented what Josh
really pictured for the film. Creating a fully CGI Thing is no easy
task."
The trailer confirms the film will follow the "
Ultimate Fantastic Four" origin elements with inter-dimensional travel causing the quartet to gain their powers.
Kinberg won't say whether the group will acquire their codenames like 'Mr. Fantastic' or 'The
Human Torch' in the film:
"
We want some of that to be a surprise. It is in many
ways an origin story, but it’s also about how they react to this
transformation, and the ways the world does or doesn’t react to them,
which is different, I would say, than all other superhero films.”
