FANTASTIC FOUR — Josh Trank & Simon Kinberg Talk Influence

Photos Movie Josh Trank Simon Kinberg Fantastic Four about 9 years agoby Free Reyes

Michael B. Jordan (Johnny Storm) and Writer/Producer Simon Kinberg

Today, the teaser trailer for Fantastic Four was released and director Josh Trank (Chronicle) and writer/producer Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past) broke down that teaser trailer. Late last night, Collider released a lengthy interview with the filmmakers and a couple of set photos.

Lots of things in the interview are summed up in a quicker way in the teaser trailer break down. I've pulled three quotes that expand on the creative team's thinking, influences, and marketing tack, so check those out below.

Trank on the film's early negative buzz and why they waited until now to release something.

"I think a lot of that stuff is stemming from the fact that we’ve consciously decided to not release anything official. This isn’t like The Avengers. Even when the first Avengers came out, there were four other movies that people were familiar with. The suits and the tone and the look and the feel. So they could release those things or drop them on Twitter. — But this movie, we really want the audience to have the proper reaction to this material seeing it for the first time. You’ve really got to put your best foot forward. You can’t just leak an image to strike up a conversation. You want people to see something that has thought behind it. And the teaser should do just that."

When asked about what differentiates Fantastic Four from other superhero movies, Trank answered:

"I would say that the science fiction of it is a big thing that sets it apart from most of the other superhero genre films. I’m a huge David Cronenberg fan, and I always viewed Fantastic Four and the kind of weirdness that happens to these characters and how they’re transformed to really fall in line more with a Cronenberg-ian science fiction tale of something horrible happening to your body and [it] transforming out of control. And the potential for a hard sci-fi take on that material makes me really excited. I don’t really see that kind of potential and that kind of take being implemented on any of the other superhero movies that seem to be coming out in the next few years."

Kinberg on the film's influences:

"Yeah, I think The Ultimates is probably our biggest influence because it’s the younger Fantastic Four. And a lot of the science specifics are there. And a lot of the means of transformation we took from those books. As you’ll see a little bit in the trailer and a lot in the movie, there are influences really from the beginning of what Kirby and Stan were doing in the 60’s all the way up into the present day. I’ve done it both ways from adapting a specific storyline like Days of Future Past or jumping off like in First Class and using more of the mythology of the characters without necessarily adhering to an existing plot line. This is an origin story in many regards and it is inspired by The Ultimate Fantastic Four as much as anything else."

The teaser trailer has me completely sold and I'm jumping on the bandwagon. I love the science fiction take and can't wait to see more from this film.

Fantastic Four journeys into the unknown on August 7th (USA)