Josh Trank Reveals He Faced 'Heavy Pushback' When Hoping to Cast a Black Actress as Sue Storm in FANTASTIC FOUR
Fantastic Four director Josh Trank has spoken out a lot lately about the flop of a film, and all the ins and outs of making it. In a recent interview with The Meaning Of podcast, Trank talked about casting the film, and the biggest hurdle he faced in doing so. In the movie, Johnny Storm/Human Torch was played by Michael B. Jordan, and his father, Franklin, was played by the late Reg E. Cathey, with Kate Mara in the role of adopted sister to Johnny, Sue Storm.
The casting of this movie was actually pretty good, but fans could not see past the casting of a black actor as Human Torch. Marvel legend and character creator Stan Lee weighed in on the casting, saying that the Marvel Universe is a diverse place, and characters shouldn’t be restrained by race. But Trank says if it had been up to him, he would have cast a black actress as Sue Storm as well.
He said:
"There was a lot of controversial conversations that were had behind the scenes on that. I was mostly interested in a black Sue Storm and a black Johnny Storm and a black Franklin Storm. When you're dealing with the studio on a massive movie like that, everyone wants to keep an open mind to who the big stars are going to be.”
He went on to add:
"When it came down to it, I found a lot of pretty heavy push back on casting a black woman in that role. When I look back on that, I should have just walked when that realization hit me, just out of principal. Those aren't the values I stand for in my own life."
He said he really regrets not better standing up for his views on the role, but says it was out of his hands, and he fought as hard as he could. Check out the video below, and let us know who you would have liked to have seen cast if Trank had gotten his wish.