Toby Kebbell Confirms a "Great" Cut of FANTASTIC FOUR Fans Will Never See

The failure of Josh Trank's Fantastic Four will make for a fascinating book some day. But whether it was studio interference, Trank's inability to handle the pressure, or some combination of the two, the movie bombed hard at the box office and is now the go-to reference point for godawful superhero movies of the modern age. Immediately after the film opened, Trank tweeted that he had "a fantastic version of this" that "would have received great reviews," but that fans would "probably never see it." Now actor Toby Kebbell, who played Doctor Doom in the movie, has confirmed the existence of that version and agrees with his director. In an interview with The Daily Beast, he said:

“I tell you, the honest truth is [Trank] did cut a great film that you’ll never see,” he said. “That is a shame. A much darker version, and you’ll never see it.”

At least he enjoyed playing Victor von Doom, putting meticulous work into tiny details before his screen time was chopped to pieces. “I spent so long figuring out an accent that was from the mid-Eastern block, generic enough to be a guy who then lived in America. I figured that out,” he grinned.

“Unfortunately,” he continued, “I played Doom in three points: Walking down a corridor, killing the doctor and getting into the time machine, and lying on the bench. They were the only times I played Doom. Everything else was some other guy, on some other day… doing some other thing. I was infuriated that he was allowed to limp like that!”

The idea that Kebbell only played Doom in a limited amount of what we saw in the final movie is new information to me, and only adds to the anguish surrounding that mess of a film. Movies have been saved before — or at least been rendered watchable or fascinating — due to the presence of one actor or the singular vision of a specific performance, and to hear that Kebbell was robbed with that in favor of...whatever the hell it was that ended up on screen is a shame.

The actor added that he's "just as heartbroken as the fans are" at the way the movie turned out. When it was only Trank talking about how his cut of the movie was going to be great, I sort of dismissed that as a jilted director lashing out at his studio, but now that Kebbell is saying the same thing, I'm actually curious to see what Trank's cut looks like. I wonder if Fox would ever release that version? If it's truly better than what they put in theaters, it would be confirmation that some execs screwed up big time, and I can't imagine Hollywood power players opening themselves up to an attack like that, so when all is said and done, I'm guessing Trank is right: we'll probably never see his real vision for Fantastic Four.

Via: Screencrush