Clocking in at less than two hours, it's obvious that a lot from The Fantastic Four: First Steps ended up on the cutting room floor. The movie worked in its current form, but we know an opening battle with Red Ghost was scrapped, as was most of The Thing's romantic subplot with Rachel Rozman.
Ultimately, Marvel Studios wanted an easily accessible reintroduction for the team that set the stage for them to be major players in Avengers: Doomsday. The Fantastic Four: First Steps was a critical hit and performed well at the box office, so it's hard to fault Kevin Feige's thinking.
Composer Michael Giacchino delivered one of his best scores yet for the Matt Shakman-helmed reboot, no great surprise when he counts three Spider-Man movies, Doctor Strange, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Werewolf By Night, which he also directed, among his MCU credits.
Talking to Deadline at the trade's Sound & Screen: Film event, the composer revealed that he wrote a full score for the movie before principal photography, which he tore up when he sat down to watch it for the first time.
"I actually wrote a whole other score for this film that you probably won’t ever hear," Giacchino revealed. "I just remember seeing it for the first time with the music and something didn’t feel right."
Giacchino initially joined the movie when Feige asked him to write a piece of music for The Fantastic Four: First Steps' San Diego Comic-Con. The themes he wrote in advance for Galactus and Silver Surfer ended up being used on set while Shakman was shooting the movie.
"What was really fun was [director] Matt [Shakman] took that to the set," the composer recalled. "It was helpful to them to figure out oh, that’s the movie we’re making. This is the tone. It’s so rare to do that. I think anyone who’s making movies should hire the composer first and then have them write their suite because then they can all get on the same page on day 1"
Despite that, Giacchino felt that something wasn't quite right when he saw his early work combined with what was on screen. "Musically, when I’m writing, I like to start at the beginning and go through the end," he explained. "I had built this out based on one version of the movie. When I watched that music against the new version of the movie, I was like, 'Oh my God, this is not working for me.'"
"You just never know," he said, confirming he's made similarly significant changes to previous MCU projects at his own behest. "What we do is a best guess. Everyone is taking their best guess at something and you’re not always right."
As noted, Giacchino stepped behind the camera to direct Werewolf by Night for Marvel Studios, though he's yet to return for a follow-up. Many fans are eager to see him helm the rumoured Midnight Sons movie, but that won't be his next project as director.
"As a composer, it’s a very solitary thing," he shared. "I missed that interaction with a group of people. To me, movies are the greatest group art form there is. You get to work with every amazing artist known to man. I’m going to be directing for Warner Bros. It’s going to be really fun and I can’t wait to tell you more about all that."
What did you think about Giacchino's score for The Fantastic Four: First Steps?