When Chronicle first hit theaters in 2012, it looked to mark the arrival of several new kids on the Hollywood block. Director Josh Trank, writer Max Landis and stars Dane DeHaan and Michael B. Jordan were all in their mid-20s when the found footage superhero movie burst onto the scene, scoring enthusiastic reviews from critics and earning over $125 million at the box office on a budget of just $12 million.
From the outside looking in, it seemed as though the movie business had found its latest batch of wunderkinds, and while DeHaan and Jordan have since gone on to establish solid careers for themselves, things haven’t worked out quite the same for Landis and Trank. The former will likely find himself blacklisted forever in the wake of some serious misconduct allegations, while the latter moved on to the infamous Fantastic Four reboot.
Dogged by reports of erratic behavior and serious behind-the-scenes turmoil, the comic book adaptation tanked spectacularly at the box office and quickly gained a reputation as one of the worst entries the genre had ever seen, with Trank losing out on the opportunity to direct a Star Wars movie in the process.
However, he’s now on the comeback trail with Tom Hardy’s crime biopic Capone set to arrive on digital next week, and in a recent interview, Trank admitted that he’d gotten out of control and even went out of his way to make sure that the proposed sequel to Chronicle never got made, despite there already being a script in place.
“I made it difficult for them to set up meetings. I was dodgy about stuff. I did a lot of sh*tty things. Because I really didn’t ever want to see Chronicle 2 happen. That was my worst nightmare. First of all, I’m not doing it. Second, if somebody else does it, then you know it’s going to be a piece of sh*t.”
It isn’t often you hear filmmakers be so candid about actively avoiding sequels to the movies that served as the launchpad for their entire career, but following his highly-publicized troubles in recent years, it seems like Trank made a smart decision in avoiding Chronicle 2, and now seems to have secured his head firmly onto his shoulders as he looks to rebuild his career.