While Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice have all been making headlines almost daily with rumors and scoops of all sorts, another superhero tentpole has been stealthily flying under the radar – Josh Trank’s The Fantastic Four. We had only gotten a few scraps of information about the Fox flick over the past few months, such as that it’s going to be “more grounded” and a coming-of-age story. Then, earlier this week, star Kate Mara stirred the pot in a big way by telling Esquire Mexico that the movie isn’t based on any of the comics.
As you can imagine, her comments got fans in a bit of a tizzy and will surely come up when The Fantastic Four goes to San Diego for Comic-Con this year. But before the film hits that massive event, we’ve got a little information about what working on the project has been like, courtesy of star Michael B. Jordan. Speaking with MTV, the actor commented on the lengths Fox has gone to in order to keep The Fantastic Four under wraps for the time being:
“Yeah, we have been pretty much in our own world, that’s really the only way we could get a project like this done. It is so massive, so many moving parts, so many moving pieces, things are changing every day.
“The script is evolving, [you make] on set decisions on the fly, things are always constantly changing. Me personally, I block out that extra noise and I focus on the job I have to do. It is an important film for all of us… We’re taking it seriously, taking a lot of risks. I think it’s going to pay off.”
Of course, Jordan saying that the script is “evolving” set off some alarm bells with the interviewer, who asked him to clarify. Jordan set the record straight, saying:
“As much as everybody thinks that these projects are cemented in years before, they’re not. There’s so many things that you just can’t account for. You know, you can try and plan as much as you want, but you get there on game day and you get thrown a curve ball, I guess, hey, the game plan goes out the window. You’ve got to adapt.”
When you add in Mara’s comments that the film isn’t based on any pre-existing storylines, it does make sense that Trank is still toying around with the script, making sure that what worked on the page still holds up on the screen. But especially for a movie as big as The Fantastic Four, it’s got to be nerve-wracking for fans to hear that the team handling this adaptation doesn’t have it all figured out even as production continues.