BREAKING: Cast of the Fox’s Fantastic Four Reboot Announced
After some months of speculation, following the addition of director Josh Trank (of the 2012 hit superhero drama Chronicle) to the mix, the cast of the Fantastic Four reboot at Fox has been announced.
Of the four main characters – Miles Teller as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Kate Mara as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm/The Thing, and Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch – only Jordan has been rumored/attached for some time, following a previous collaboration with Trank. All of the other actors either are close to inking deals or are pretty much confirmed (according to Variety), with firm offers still in play.
This is interesting casting for a couple of reasons. It’s all actors who are known in the film and media world, if one pays close enough attention to names not quite full-marquee status but getting there (Teller has break-out roles in last year’s The Spectacular Now and That Awkward Moment, currently in US theaters; Mara on the Netflix smash House of Cards; Jordan in Chronicle, also That Awkward Moment and last year’s darker turn in Fruitvale Station; Bell is the only one who has been really at it for over ten years, going back to Billy Elliot but also recently as the title character in Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin), so they’re on the radar but known quantities throughout the business.
Ultimate Fantastic Four comics
But the other thing is the background on the characters: in the Marvel comics created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Sue Storm and Johnny Storm are siblings, and the obvious is that the actors playing them are not of the same race. This may be simple enough to explain away in the story – one may be adopted, or they’re half-siblings, though the latter seems less likely.
The fan reaction already, just within hours of the announcement, is fairly split by those who talk about how quickly, once again, Hollywood is rebooting a franchise (the last F4 film, Rise of the Silver Surfer, released in 2007 with a different cast), the simple merits of the actors themselves – if they’ve heard of them, their talent, etc – and/or about the possibly controversy surrounding the decision to cast mixed-racial characters (this not quite the same as Sam Jackson in the Avengers universe as Nick Fury or Michael Clarke Duncan as the Kingpin in Daredevil, who were stand-alone characters). Just in the Variety comments alone it’s mind-boggling to look through.
But, as with all things when it comes to casting comic book characters – just recently Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor lit up the internet for about a week – only time will tell, especially depending on the story (Simon Kinberg was brought on to do a final script polish before casting was announced) – and the casting for prospective villains (and the other major F4 character, Victor von Doom) is still TBA. Shooting is expected to happen sometime this year, with Fox eying a June 19th, 2015 release date right in the heart of summer movie season.
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