The only good thing that came out of the 2015 film Fantastic Four was one of the lead actors, Jamie Bell, meeting his future wife, Kate Mara. Fantastic Four, stylized as Fant4stic, turned out to be a major box office disappointment, with critics describing it as one of the worst comic book films ever made. However, the fate of the film was seemingly sealed long before it reached the theaters due to issues in production.
The film was directed by Josh Trank, known for the found footage superhero film, Chronicle. Reportedly, Trank had a falling out with 20th Century Fox during the production of the film, which had a negative impact on the film’s publicity. Jamie Bell believed that the negative word of mouth killed any winning chances that the movie had.
Jamie Bell Blamed Fans For Sealing The Fate Of Fant4stic
In 2017, Jamie Bell appeared for an interview with The Guardian where he was asked about the failure of his film, Fant4stic. Bell shared that initially on paper, the cast and script looked promising, and they believed that they were creating a hit movie.
However, with time, the relationships on set became strained. Initially, director Josh Trank hated the script by screenwriter Jeremy Slater and took it upon himself to rewrite the script.
Later, 20th Century Fox was dissatisfied with Trank’s version and ordered reshoots for the film, which essentially lost the vision Trank had for the film. Jamie Bell addressed these issues, explaining that too many cooks were involved in the creative process, making it difficult to produce a cohesive superhero team-up film. The 6 Days actor shared with The Guardian:
“From the outset it seemed cool, and I liked the cast. I love Michael [B Jordan], love Miles [Teller] – he’s a great actor – and Kate [Mara] is great. You set out with the best of intentions, and personalities clash, there are changes to a script at short notice, a studio gets involved, there are too many cooks”
However, Bell also shifted some blame onto fans who questioned some of the creative choices from the beginning, including the casting of Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm. Bell stated:
“I also think there was ill-will towards the movie before we even started. And when people saw that the film was in trouble, they killed it.”
Interestingly, Trank earlier revealed that he kept a .38 special on his nightstand due to death threats he received while filming the movie.
Jamie Bell Was Right About Ego Clashes Killing The Movie
When Josh Trank was unhappy with Jeremy Slater’s script, he was excluded from further discussions of the script with the studio. Slater left the project shortly thereafter. Later, Trank also underwent the same ordeal when Fox ordered reshoots without his supervision.
This resulted in the film missing some of the major plot points that Trank had planned for. One day prior to the release of his film, Trank wrote a now-deleted tweet expressing his frustration (via EW):
“A year ago I had a fantastic version of this. And it would’ve received great reviews. You’ll probably never see it. That’s reality though.”
Reportedly, Trank’s behavior on set was also a contributing factor to Fox’s attitude, and some of the actors corroborated such claims. Kate Mara, who played Sue Storm, revealed that she felt uncomfortable with the direction of the movie. Mara shared with Collider:
“I think that speaking up is something that I think that we all probably learn it [sic] over and over again… I don’t regret doing it at all, but do regret not having stood up for myself. I regret that for sure.”
Also Read: 15 Superhero Actors That Starred Together Before They Were Superheroes
However, Jamie Bell’s narrative about fans and audiences killing the movie has no merit, as the film’s quality left little room for debate. The film bombed at the box office after collecting $167.9 million against a budget of nearly $155 million. Fant4stic is now available for streaming on Disney+.
Source: The Guardian, EW, Collider
