Miles Teller, Josh Trank on ‘Fantastic Four,’ race issues, Jamie Bell
Fox is moving ahead with a new Fantastic Four film and Miles Teller will star as the leader of the amazing team, Reed Richards aka, Mr. Fantastic.
A new interview went online Feb. 26 as Empire Magazine caught up with Teller to talk about what to expect from his take on Reed Richards,
“It was good talking with our advisors on set, whether it’s the quantum physics stuff or biomechanics,”he says. “I always want to know enough about the stuff before I say it. But I’m on layman’s terms with the science. I’m a layman’s Reed Richards!”
The super flexible Mr. Fantastic will take shape in amazing ways with the new special.
“If he’s this gummy guy slinging around, it looks ridiculous,” the actor claimed before adding: “What does that feel like for a young guy, to have no control over his body?”
Director Josh Trank and writer Simon Kinberg put together a different and fresh take on Marvel’s super-team, something different than the first two films by Fox, says Trank.
“The original two films to me are very similar to a lot of recent movies that have come out, in terms of that kind of cartoonish. It’s just not something that me and Simon are interested in as storytellers.”
Trank has a very different interpretation of their adventures than Avengers, for example.
“There’s the opportunity to make something that is challenging and tragic and dramatic,” he said. “The opportunity is right there in the material. We’d rather steer it in that direction as opposed to just embracing a tone that comes right off the page.”
Lastly, Trank addressed the “controversy” surrounding his decision to chance the race of Johnny Storm with Michael B. Jordan, “I have mixed family,” he said.
“When I go home for Christmas, you’ll see white people and black people. That’s normal to me. I wanted a Storm family that represented 21st century families.” For Sue (Kate Mara) then, Trank also wanted to update her from the classic comics, adding: “There have always been two categories of Sue – the slutty secretary version, and this brilliant scientist version. This is a really, really smart Sue, and one that is dignified and has integrity.”
Jamie Bell will play Ben Grimm/The Thing using motion capture. “Ben is supposed to be a smaller guy in terms of height. That idea of Ben being Reeds best friend in the archetypical way, you want that character to have warmth and strength, qualities Jamie has.”
The director then confirmed that what fans saw in the trailer was a”transformation cocoon.”
The Four will battle Toby Kebbell’s Doctor Doom. Check out some new photos from the coverage here
The Fantastic Four opens in theaters on August 7, 2015.
Check out some of the top Fantastic Four stories in The Dispatch – click here