7 Times Movie Studios And Directors Went To War

The director, Josh Trank, was completely unprepared for the huge amount of responsibility he was undertaking when he was asked to make Fant4stic. His script, which included Galactus and the Mole Man, would've have made the film so expensive that the studio believed they couldn't make a profit. On the first day of filming, the producers informed Trank that three action sequences needed to be cut.

Sadly, things didn't get easier. Trank was annoyed about the producers' changes and he repeatedly lashed out at the actors. According to Miles Teller, who played the lead character, Trank nearly got into a fistfight with him and he was abusive to the cast and crew. He was nasty to Kate Mara, who plays Sue Storm, since he believed she was miscast.

Although Trank made a 140-minute version, the producers cut it down to 90 minutes against his wishes. Some rumours state that Matthew Vaughn reshot scenes but he denies this.

Despite the chaos, Trank naively claimed that the Silver Surfer would appear in the sequel several months before this film came out.

Because the film couldn't be delayed, Fant4stic was rushed out even though it had glaring inconsistencies. Susan Storm’s hair changes shape, style, and colour in some shots. Reed Richards facial hair appears and disappears between shots. Doctor Doom's motivation and plan doesn't make any sense.

One day before the film’s release, Trank tweeted, “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.” It was quickly deleted. Shortly after, he tweeted that he’ll “never be working on a comic book movie again.”

So why does the creator of the Fantastic Four, Stan Lee, believe the movie failed? In his own words, “Probably because I didn’t have a cameo in it.”