Josh Trank Out As Second Star Wars Anthology Director Due to “Erratic” Behavior on Fantastic Four?
As fans, it’s sometimes easy (OK, incredibly easy) to criticize films, whether it’s the dialogue, the story itself, the action sequences, the use of CGI, and on and on it goes. The problem with this is that we often don’t know what went on behind the scenes that made the movie that way.
For the big budget films, especially the ones with big name recognition, having a good team from top to bottom is paramount, as is knowing exactly where the film is going. For the continuation of the Star Wars movie universe, this couldn’t be more important. Having J.J. Abrams is a great start as he’s directing episode VII. For the spinoff films, which are called the “Star Wars Anthology”, they’re having different directors take a piece of the action. Gareth Edwards is helming Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One, and Josh Trank (who directed the upcoming Fantastic Four movie and the well received Chronicle) was set to be director the second film in the anthology series. However, things fell apart, and he left the film. Case closed, or so we thought.
Now, it’s being reported by The Hollywood Reporter that Trank was let go due to his behavior on the set of Fantastic Four, citing “erratic” behavior in both conduct and his approach to the film. Sources say that he wasn’t pulling together the film like he needed to be doing, and that he had no clear direction for it at all. It was apparently due to the producers stepping in that the film got back on track.
Here’s what one person on the set of Fantastic Four had to say on the matter: “If you’ve got someone who can’t answer questions or who isn’t sure or is in hiding, that’s not good.”
The report suggests this caused Lucasfilm to get very wary of Trank directing a Star Wars film, and it inevitably led to his dismissal from the role. We’ll have to wait and see who not only takes his spot now, but how Fantastic Four plays out in theaters when it’s released August 7th.