As Miles Teller tells it, he knew something was amiss with 2015’s reviled “Fantastic Four” before the film even hit theaters, and he thinks there’s “one really important person” to blame for that.
Variety reports (via an interview between the actor and Andy Cohen on Cohen’s SiriusXM talk show) that Teller knew the film would flap after he screened the superhero movie’s final cut. ““When I first saw the movie, I remember talking to one of the studio heads and said, ‘I think we’re in trouble,’” said the actor. Teller also added that he did the film due to the industry pressure he felt to get involved with comic book movies. “As a young actor at that time, it’s like, ‘Alright, if you want to be taken seriously as a leading man, you got to get on this superhero train.’ That was our chance,” he continued. “And the casting, I thought, was spectacular. I love all those actors.”
Teller starred in “Fantastic Four” with Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell, an ensemble cast that, on paper, should have been a big box-office draw in 2015. But Josh Trank‘s film was a critical disaster, and grossed just $168 million globally off a $120 million budget. The superhero team wouldn’t grace the big screen again until a decade later, in this summer’s “The Fantastic 4: First Steps,” featuring an all-new cast and a foundation in the mega-successful MCU.
So, who’s to blame for the failure of “Fantastic Four”? According to Teller, he knows, but he won’t name names. “It’s unfortunate for that, because so many people worked so hard on that movie. And honestly, maybe there was one really important person who kind of f*cked it all up,” Teller said. Is the actor alluding to Trank? Teller doesn’t name the director explicitly, but that would track with reports of Trank’s erratic on-set behavior, and Mara’s remarks in a 2020 interview about the set’s bad energy, seemingly due to Trank’s antics.
But “Fantastic Four” is a decade ago now, and everyone, including Trank, has moved on from the debacle. It’s worth noting, however, that Trank has directed just one project since the 2015 disaster, 2020’s “Capone,” while the respective careers of the film’s main ensemble have had quite a bit more success.
Teller’s next film, “Eternity” with Elizabeth Olsen and Callum Turner, hits theaters on November 26, with “Michael” and “Paper Tiger” on the way in 2026.
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