10 Times Hollywood Regretted Giving Directors All The Freedom

9. Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four
Fox

There's been a lot of discussion within the superhero world about just how much creative freedom Kevin Feige, Disney and other studios allow the directors they contract to handle their lucrative enterprise. In most cases, it's almost a gut inclination to side with the filmmakers who claim their visions were compromised. It's easy to paint studios as uncaring, financially incentivized monoliths that crush down the dreamers.

But in Fox's case, there appears to be every reason to hate Josh Trank.

Trank had played the Hollywood system quite wisely, gaining attention for his popular youtube and web work. Soon he was in charge of his first feature, a found-footage take on the superhero genre written by another recent Hollywood outcast.

Chronicle was unusually intelligent for a subgenre that had outlasted its expiry date four Paranormal Activities ago, so it made sense Fox tapped Trank to handle their reboot of Fantastic Four, one of two major comic properties they hadn't quite found a vehicle for.

Going over the disastrous onset reports in detail, including an unjustified paranoia the directed has since copped to, trashed houses rented by the studio and general a**hat behaviour, would require another list. Safe to say though: the set was a nightmare, and Trank was taken off the project, with the studio mandating major reshoots to smooth over the film's darker edges.

They fixed nothing ultimately, and it would have been better to just hire someone capable of delivering the film the studio wanted in the first place.

Contributor
Contributor

Kenny Hedges is carbon-based. So I suppose a simple top 5 in no order will do: Halloween, Crimes and Misdemeanors, L.A. Confidential, Billy Liar, Blow Out He has his own website - thefilmreal.com - and is always looking for new writers with differing views to broaden the discussion.