After playing the role of Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, actor Sean Astin was keen on directing a Fantastic Four movie, however, 20th Century Fox didn’t want to risk their project by handing over the project to an actor who didn’t have experience as a director. In a past interview, Astin recalled that he contacted Christopher Columbus, who was initially linked to 2005’s Fantastic Four to understand what the studio was looking for.
With a whole script ready, Astin even contacted Kevin Feige at the time, asking him if he could direct the movie. Unfortunately, the idea never took off, and Tim Story was hired to direct. As a result, Fantastic Four was absolutely butchered, receiving negative reviews.
Sean Astin wanted to direct a Fantastic Four movie
In the early 2000s, actor Sean Astin was interested in writing and directing a Fantastic Four movie. During a 2019 interview with Collider at Amazing Las Vegas Comic-Con, the actor recalled that he dug up Christopher Columbus’ initial screenplays for 2005’s Fantastic Four,
“Christopher Columbus had developed a screenplay, so I went and tracked down – where those screenplays were so I could read them, so I could see what the evolution of the story that you know that the studio was buying,” adding, “I found all of those screenplays and I remember calling Chris Columbus – and because he wrote The Goonies he took my call and I said listen I really want to direct this not really knowing that he was slated to direct it for a period of time.”
The actor further revealed that Columbus left the project because his version would’ve cost $200 million and Astin was ready to direct the film because his budget was just $30 million. The actor then hired Jake Bloom, the famous Hollywood attorney, to call Tom Rothman, the head of 20th Century Fox, to tell him that he wanted to direct the movie. Rothman was obviously reluctant to hand over this project to an inexperienced Astin.
Sean Astin also talked to Kevin Feige
Astin also revealed that he approached Kevin Feige, who was the Head of Physical Production for Fox’s Marvel films back then, asking him if he could direct a Fantastic Four movie,
“I said [to Kevin,] ‘Listen, is there any way in the world that you’d consider me to direct Fantastic Four?” He was like, ‘Well, I don’t know.’ I said, ‘So, are you saying there’s zero chance, no chance, 100 percent not gonna do it?’ He said, ‘Well, I’m not gonna say 0 percent.’ I’m like, [excited] ‘Ohhhh.'”
After many script revisions, Fantastic Four finally hit the theatres in 2005. The film was a financial success, grossing roughly $333 million at the box office, but it was not well-received by the fans or the critics. It makes many wonder, with Chris Columbus’s screenplay as reference maybe Astin’s version of the movie could’ve done better setting up the universe.
