The Fox Film Based on Marvel's First Family Finally Has Found Its Fresh Faced Leads
If you thought 20th Century Fox was done after two lackluster film adaptations of the Fantastic Four then you underestimate the studio's desire to cash in on the superhero movie genre. Fox is indeed making a reboot complete with a new cast and origin story sure to rankle some fans of Marvel comics 'First Family'. If negotiations go well you'll see the hottest up-and-coming young actors in the business in director Josh Trank's long rumored project.
Michael B. Jordan, the only one reportedly signed to star thus far, is coming off the critically acclaimed Fruitvale Station and his rising star was strong enough to weather the stinker That Awkward Moment was and is slated to play Johnny Storm aka Human Torch. As the name implies, the Human Torch can generate flames from his body and fly. (Yes, traditionally in the comics Johnny is a blonde white guy. Not so here obviously and being Sue's younger half- or adopted brother would make perfect sense. Let's move on.)
Kate Mara, who is close to signing, is also a rising talent fresh from her role as a determined reporter on Netflix's monster hit, House of Cards, is playing Johnny's sister, Sue Storm aka The Invisible Woman. She can generate force fields and become invisible.
Jamie Bell, whose breakout debut in Billy Elliot in 2000 garnered him multiple awards and nominations, is a curious choice to play the rough but lovable man of stone with superhuman strength in Ben Grimm aka The Thing. The talented English actor will presumably have to use Ben's famous gruff Brooklyn accent and don a motion-capture suit for his transformation into the Thing. At least the latter part he's already experienced while making The Adventures of Tintin for Steven Spielberg.
Miles Teller, Jordan's co-star in Moment, is another actor to watch. Teller has indie cred from last year's The Spectacular Now and some youth recognition from disposable party fare like Project X and 21 & Over. However, this year Teller was the talk of the Sundance Film Festival in his virtuoso portrayal of a young drumming prodigy in Whiplash, the film was the winner of the U.S. Grand Jury and Audience Dramatic awards. His casting as Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic, genius leader and capable of stretching his body to amazing lengths, is the most tenuous casting because he's already involved in another burgeoning genre franchise, Divergent. Filming for that dystopian thriller sequel, Insurgent, begins at the same time as FF and if scheduling can't be sorted out then the role may have to be recast.
Teller and Bell are not officially signed as of this writing and Fox has kept silent on the entire casting of the film.
No plot details have been released but considering the younger make-up of the cast it's fair to speculate that it could mimic the comic book series Ultimate Fantastic Four, a re-imagining of Marvel's long-running Fantastic Four comic book franchise as part of its Ultimate Marvel imprint. The new origin story involved a young scientific prodigy in Richards who is recruited into a think tank/school where he meets Professor Storm and his children, bio-engineer Sue and brother Johnny. Grimm is Richards' grade school buddy but not as scientifically gifted. During a teleportation experiment conceived by Richards a fellow student and rival, Victor Van Damme (future Doctor Doom), alters the calculations and when the five are teleported they return mutated with special powers.
The big question is will movie goers embrace this installment of FF when the last two failed? There wasn't really any clamoring from the public to see another movie especially in the hands of Fox. It seemed people had come to terms that a proper version was not to be had. The addition of director Trank gave some hope considering his work on his "buddies with superpowers" opus, Chronicle, but the project seemed to stall.
However, in this current trend of potential billion dollar franchises for comic book movies the studio is very motivated to see this come to fruition. Anything seems possible. Marvel has the obscure Guardians of the Galaxy on the way and that features a raccoon with a machine gun. The pay off could be huge if Fox gives fans a reason to plunk down hard earned money for yet another FF movie. Right now there's a lot of online chatter, some of it ignorant, about the casting but hopefully the conversion will change as more details emerge and a good marketing campaign sparks excitement.
Fantastic Four is scheduled for release on June 19, 2015.
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