Josh Trank and the unmade Fantastic Four reboot

The Fantastic Four reboot is the first big-budget film directed by Josh Trank. After the unexpected success of Chronicle, the studio offered him this chance, apparently giving him the freedom to see the project through in any way that he wanted (hence Victor Domashev instead of Victor von Doom).

However, this wasn’t the only liberty the director took with this film. Unfortunately, and apparently, we won’t know what else he had in mind for the Fantastic Four reboot. As he said before the shooting began, the reboot was supposed to be heavily influenced by the work of David Cronenberg (The Fly) and was supposed to present the horrors the characters will face before becoming superheroes. Obviously, the horrors would be the sudden changes they will feel when their powers kick in.

And there are hints here and there in the movie – such as when Reed Richards is on the table, with his limbs stretching… (this isn’t a spoiler, since it was also in the trailers).

But we didn’t see too much of this. After the film failed to impress, Josh Trank took it on Twitter and (in a way) explained what happened. Only a screenshot remains.

Most obviously, the director says that Fox interfered heavily with his work – it isn’t too hard to believe, if keeping in mind that the studio decided to alter the main antagonist during the reshooting.

On the next page, the studio’s comments!