Josh Trank Reveals Why He Really Left STAR WARS; Addresses FANTASTIC FOUR BTS Rumors
Fantastic Four director Josh Trank reveals what he says is the real reason he decided not to direct that second Star Wars Anthology movie, while also addressing reports about his behaviour on set and his rumoured falling out with writer and producer Simon Kinberg...
When Josh Trank didn't show up at this year's Star Wars Celebration, he and Disney told everyone that he had the flu. The truth was that the Chronicle helmer was no longer attached to direct their second Star Wars Anthology movie, and various trades would later claim that he was fired for strange behaviour on set, property damage, and a falling out with writer and producer Simon Kinberg. Calling his departure "the hardest decision I've ever had to make in my life," Trank told Hero Complex the following in an interview last week about those reports. "None of those facts were true – and any of the facts that were true were spun in such a maliciously wrong way. If you ask anybody by name who I’ve worked with, from Simon to [producer] Hutch [Parker] or my crew or anybody else, they’d be like, ‘We’ve been working really hard on this movie and we’ve had an excellent time working together.' It’s been a challenging movie – for all of the right reasons."
The director then goes on to deny claims that his dogs caused $100,000 worth of damage to a property rented for him by Fox and that he recently took to 4Chan to vent his frustrations about the movie. So, why did Trank leave Star Wars? "I want to do something original after this because I’ve been living under public scrutiny, as you’ve seen, for the last four years of my life. And it’s not healthy for me right now in my life. I want to do something that’s below the radar." This could all be true or a PR move by Fox to try and help distance Fantastic Four from those reports by The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. It's hard to know who to believe, and chances are we may never know what hapenned. This is Trank's take on things though. Interestingly, Simon Kinberg - the man who reportedly had Trank fired from Star Wars - was also present for this interview, and he jumped to Trank's defence. "I’ve been around some version of this for a long time. This, I would say, is particularly cruel. I haven’t really seen this level of vehemence against a filmmaker. And it’s surreal and unfair." What do you guys think? As always, share your thoughts and theories below.