FANTASTIC FOUR Director Josh Trank Explains What REALLY Happened When He And Miles Teller Clashed On Set

FANTASTIC FOUR Director Josh Trank Explains What REALLY Happened When He And Miles Teller Clashed On Set

Shortly after Fantastic Four was released, we heard reports of an altercation between director Josh Trank and star Miles Teller, and the filmmaker has now told his version of events. Check it out...

By JoshWilding - May 06, 2020 05:05 AM EST
Filed Under: Fantastic Four
Source: Polygon

When the Fantastic Four cast were promoting the movie back in 2015, it was clear they were all too aware that they weren't starring in a particularly good movie. Later, reports would surface that director Josh Trank had made some bizarre requests on set, going so far as to tell cast members when to blink.

That was never confirmed, but when Trank sent out an email shortly before the film's release saying his was "better than 99 percent of the comic book movies ever made," one cast member reportedly replied "I don’t think so."

It's widely believed that was Miles Teller, and we've also heard that he and Trank got into some sort of physical altercation on set. In a profile on Trank over at Polygon, the site states that the actor took a "I'm-a-movie-star-now approach to acting, which involved questioning even the most low-impact performance requests," and it's that which reportedly led to this clash. 

However, while the filmmaker never clarifies whether things really did get physical, the site says it was, in fact, "a moment of miscommunication between two Type-A personalities." This is clearly information they've been provided with from Trank, but it would be interesting to hear Teller's take.

For what it's worth, Trank also tells the site he doesn't recall receiving a single complaint from the studio during the 72-day shoot, and that claims he "built a black tent around his monitor" was just a traditional video village, because sometimes, "you can’t actually be out standing next to the camera because the camera’s on a [frick]ing dolly."

Based on what both the filmmaker and site reveal here, it sounds like Trank refutes claims that he clashed with Teller beyond them both having very competitive personalities and disagreeing over certain decisions.

Still, it's hard not to wonder...

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tmp3
tmp3 - 5/6/2020, 6:04 AM
I think the weirdest part of the interview was where he openly admits contempt for superhero films but still... decided to accept F4 over the many, many offers he received (including a Tom Cruise project!), and said no to any of Slater's comic-accurate ideas. Also the fact that he wanted to make it an "uncomfortable film", and that he wanted it to be a "metaphor of these characters crawling out of hell.”
Worst thing was he assembled such a great cast for the film, who could have been in a great Ultimate F4 film from a director who actually gave a shit.
tmp3
tmp3 - 5/6/2020, 6:05 AM
Actually no, scratch that. The weirdest part is where he says he slept with a gun next to his bed because he was afraid of racist nerds from 4chan.
sickboy76
sickboy76 - 5/6/2020, 6:39 AM
@tmp3 - sounds like a fox thing to do, hire someone who knows/cares nothing about the source material.
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 5/6/2020, 9:04 AM
@sickboy76 - well he did care about the source, it was based off the ultimate verse. i think fans were just butthurt because its not the 616 version which already came out in 2005 and was terrible. the body horror approach was interesting imo.
Franshu
Franshu - 5/6/2020, 9:36 AM
@mastakilla39 - He pretty much explicitely stated he didn't care abou the material, tho.

Th body horror aspect was interesting, just not for the F4
sickboy76
sickboy76 - 5/6/2020, 1:43 PM
@mastakilla39 - what I mean by not caring about source material. I'm talking about making its clobbering time a signal for domestic abuse and making sue storm get her powers whilst trying to switch off the machine rather than actually being a mwmwbe of the expedition into the negative zone, further diminishing her place.
EpisodeIX
EpisodeIX - 5/6/2020, 6:10 AM
I really could careless about this director. However, this is the third time that Fox ruined FF4 and I bet Marvel is going to first work on FF4 to give us a good FF4.
PsychoticSpaceRaccoon
PsychoticSpaceRaccoon - 5/6/2020, 6:11 AM
I still have never seen this movie. Trank is a weird dude. Chronicle was a decent found footage low-budget super hero flick. But that's all I can say.
HubbleFunk
HubbleFunk - 5/6/2020, 6:13 AM
@PsychoticSpaceRaccoon - Ditto, still haven't got around to watching it. Don't feel compelled to.
WakandanQueen
WakandanQueen - 5/6/2020, 6:18 AM
@PsychoticSpaceRaccoon - It's unwatchable.
LongMayHeReign
LongMayHeReign - 5/6/2020, 6:14 AM
Trank: My comic book movie is better than 99 percent of the comic book movies ever made!

Teller:

WakandanQueen
WakandanQueen - 5/6/2020, 6:18 AM
@LongMayHeReign - RIP
LongMayHeReign
LongMayHeReign - 5/6/2020, 6:44 AM
@WakandanQueen - Indeed!
GhostDog
GhostDog - 5/6/2020, 6:23 AM
This guy is a ticking time bomb. These interviews aren't doing him ANY FAVORS.
tmp3
tmp3 - 5/6/2020, 6:24 AM
@BlackBeltJones - I mean, it's technically all from one interview but Josh is gonna make 40 articles out of it
SuperCat
SuperCat - 5/6/2020, 6:25 AM
Trank was hitting Miles like...

BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 5/6/2020, 6:43 AM
@SuperCat - But miles still held on to the cup. That's an actor.
SuperCat
SuperCat - 5/6/2020, 6:49 AM
@BillyBatson1000 - LOL!
pclark
pclark - 5/6/2020, 6:32 AM
I can't imagine any actor wanting to work with Trank considering I read reports that he even tried to tell actors when to blink. No wonder their performances are wooden, you try being natural when someone tells you something like that.
TheMaster2011
TheMaster2011 - 5/6/2020, 6:48 AM
@pclark - Not sure I would believe those rumours. The performances in Chronicle were pretty fantastic (Dane DeHaan especially), and Trank’s latest film which is being released next week with Tom Hardy has a bunch of great actors involved.

TexasAvenger
TexasAvenger - 5/6/2020, 6:33 AM
Miles Teller brought him back down to earth real quick lmao. Josh Trank is a loser.
tmp3
tmp3 - 5/6/2020, 6:44 AM
@TexasAvenger - Everyday on the set of F4
ComicBookPsycho
ComicBookPsycho - 5/6/2020, 6:42 AM
That was never confirmed, but when Trank sent out an email shortly before the film's release saying his was "better than 99 percent of the comic book movies ever made," one cast member reportedly replied "I don’t think so."

LeonNova
LeonNova - 5/6/2020, 6:54 AM
One of the few CBMs that I've never even made an effort to see, that and Dark Pheonix.
Goldboink
Goldboink - 5/6/2020, 7:17 AM
@LeonNova -
Are you related to my friend Ben Dova
lawndart
lawndart - 5/6/2020, 10:25 PM
Is it too hard for someone to make a FF movie faithful to Kirby, Lee, and maybe Byrne? Guess so.
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