FANTASTIC FOUR Director Josh Trank Pitched An R-Rated VENOM Movie Which Producer Matt Tolmach "Hated"

FANTASTIC FOUR Director Josh Trank Pitched An R-Rated VENOM Movie Which Producer Matt Tolmach "Hated"

Josh Trank was attached to a number of big projects before Fantastic Four happened, and he's now shed some light on what happened both with Venom and an adaptation of Shadow of the Colossus...

By JoshWilding - May 05, 2020 05:05 PM EST
Filed Under: Venom
Source: Polygon

After Chronicle grossed over $126 million on a $12 million budget, director Josh Trank soon found himself fielding a number of big offers in Hollywood. Among them was Venom, a movie Sony Pictures has desperately been trying to make happen for years by the time the filmmaker pitched his take. 

Talking to Polygon, Trank explained that he pitched a hard-R Venom movie similar in tone to The Mask.

After he and Big Fan director Rob Siegel spent two weeks putting together a treatment for the film, they presented that to The Amazing Spider-Man producer Matt Tolmach, and he "hated" it.

"I didn’t like how Matt Tolmach was coming at me in that situation, because it felt very kind of authoritative," the filmmaker explained. "Well, if you don’t like what I’m doing, and you’re telling me that I have to do something along the lines of what you want, and you’re going to tell it to me in this way — sorry, but I have other things I can be doing."

One of those things was a big screen adaptation of Sony video game Shadow of the Colossus. However, Trank was attached to it for such a short amount of time, all he really remembers was his writer delivering "one of the most awkward, squirmiest pitches I’ve ever seen before." He also makes it clear that, now, "I couldn’t give a f*ck about any good video games or turning any property into anything else."

It's fascinating to hear Trank speak to openly about his Hollywood near misses, and it seems like Sony Pictures was never open to an R-Rated Venom movie, something fans spent years campaigning for. Ultimately, we got the PG-13 which was a box office hit, but widely panned by fans and critics. 

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dracula
dracula - 5/5/2020, 5:07 PM
Would have been interesting, especially if they actually used some of the backstory that was eventually given to Eddie Brock in the comics
dracula
dracula - 5/5/2020, 5:08 PM
At least Zack Snyder has finally shut up
LongMayHeReign
LongMayHeReign - 5/5/2020, 5:20 PM
@dracula -

dracula
dracula - 5/5/2020, 5:23 PM
@LongMayHeReign - been close to 3 years, him moving on is long VERY LONG over do
LongMayHeReign
LongMayHeReign - 5/5/2020, 5:26 PM
@dracula - No I mean, don't say that because then he will start talking again. Just let him fade into the background.
dracula
dracula - 5/5/2020, 5:28 PM
@LongMayHeReign - It will be fine just need to make sure not to mention his name 2 more times
Darth258
Darth258 - 5/5/2020, 5:30 PM
@dracula - If it happens..

dracula
dracula - 5/5/2020, 5:31 PM
@Darth258 - as long as we dont post his name 3 times he will stay away
Darth258
Darth258 - 5/5/2020, 5:36 PM
@dracula -
WakandanQueen
WakandanQueen - 5/5/2020, 5:11 PM
Calm your tits man
GhostDog
GhostDog - 5/5/2020, 5:12 PM
This dude seems like he’s one bad day away...
tmp3
tmp3 - 5/5/2020, 5:19 PM
@BlackBeltJones -
“I was getting threats on IMDb message boards saying they were going to shoot me,” Trank said. To find some level of ease, the director kept a loaded .38 Special on his nightstand.

“I was so [frick]ing paranoid during that shoot,” said Trank. “If someone came into my house, I would have ended their [frick]ing life. When you’re in a head space where people want to get you, you think, ‘I’m going to defend myself.’” Trank returned the gun after wrapping production.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 5/5/2020, 5:27 PM
@tmp3 -

CurlyBill
CurlyBill - 5/5/2020, 5:24 PM
Putting that writer on blast for his pitch is a real dick move. This guy seems like a real narcissist.
MUTO123
MUTO123 - 5/5/2020, 5:27 PM
As bad as Fant4stic was and as much of an egotistical lunatic as he comes across as, I'd take his Venom movie any day over the one we got.
L0RDbuckethead
L0RDbuckethead - 5/5/2020, 5:32 PM
Trank like:

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