At this point, Josh Trank probably feels like he just wants "Fantastic Four" to get released so he can go and hide for a bit. It hasn’t been the easiest ride for the filmmaker on his first blockbuster studio movie. The project has been plagued with reports of production troubles, and earlier this month, it was reported that he was fired from the "Star Wars" spinoff movie slated for 2018 due to his erratic behavior on "Fantastic Four" (Simon Kinberg is a producer on both pictures). The latest rumor to make the rounds is that Matthew Vaughn stepped in to helm the latest batch of reshoots last month and that Fox had ditched a 3D release of the movie to put their resources toward that new round of filming. Not so.
Josh Trank himself took to Twitter to reveal that he’s never met Matthew Vaughn (though the the filmmaker has been supportive of the superhero movie), reported test screenings that went poorly — leading to the reshoots — never actually happened, and that he’s the only director on the movie. And in case you need further evidence, actor Tim Blake Nelson also recently confirmed in a conversation with ComingSoon that it was Trank directing the reshoots.
"…they’re written by Simon Kinberg and they’re being directed by Josh, and these are two very strong-willed, opinionated people, so I can’t imagine there’s gonna be some wild departure from what they had in mind when they first set out to collaborate," Nelson said about the possibility that the reshoots were being done to make the movie more blockbuster sized. "I think it’s probably going to be an effort to underscore what the movie is all about. And Josh is the maker of ‘Chronicle‘! This guy is not afraid to take his own perspective on what it is to be a young, eccentric person in a normalizing world and explore that, and that’s what ‘Fantastic Four’ is all about, just like ‘Chronicle’ was."
So, there you go. "Fantastic Four" opens on August 7th.
@Josh_Wilding Hey Josh, not true. While MV has been very supportive, he’s never been to our set. There’s only been 1 director of FF2015. Me.
— Josh Trank (@joshuatrank) May 24, 2015
@SuperheroNewsCB Definitely not true. I haven’t even met MV in person, and there were no such test screenings.
— Josh Trank (@joshuatrank) May 24, 2015
Next time you read an article, whether it’s Hollywood Reporter or SuperheroNews, if they aren’t naming sources: it’s probably bullshit.
— Josh Trank (@joshuatrank) May 24, 2015