David Cronenberg Speaks About Inspiring Josh Trank's Fantastic Four
The Fly director takes it as a compliment.
Collider recently asked the man himself about being the inspiration for the upcoming comic book adaptation. Speaking to the Baron of body horror about his latest film Maps to the Stars, the site got a few words from the man himself on his influence on the upcoming super-secret blockbuster and the inevitability of any filmmaker being the inspiration for others somewhere down the line. "It's fine," said the director, "once you've contributed your voice to the cinematic conversation, it's out there and it's up for grabs, absolutely. So I don't complain. In fact, I take it as a compliment." The director went on to say that this isn't the first time his work has led others to trace his steps, comparing his parasitic picture Shivers to lead John Hurt having a bit of a sore stomach in some Ridley Scott film from way back when... "As far back as Alien, for example, which totally ripped off things from my movie Shivers - Shivers features a parasite that lives in your body, bursts out of your chests, jumps onto your face and jumps down your mouth, and suddenly you see this in a studio film, which was hugely successful, Alien. The writer of the script, Dan O'Bannon, had seen Shivers, we know that he had seen my movie and, shall we say, appropriated it. So this is not new stuff for me." In retrospect, for a story about a man that can set himself on fire and another that turns into a walking, talking rockface, David Cronenberg would be ideal for such extreme altercations to the human body. Of course, that torch has already been passed to Trank, who was commended by Cronenberg for his honesty of where his take spawns from. "It's actually kind of nice when someone just flat out admits it. That's actually pretty good. Not everybody else does." Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and all, but surely a few pleased comic book fans wouldn't go a miss either. We can only wait and see if Trank gets that coveted seal of approval when Fantastic Four hits cinemas August 7.