Sean Astin could have directed the Fantastic Four movie
By Ariba Bhuvad
Hollywood has taken a couple stabs at making a Fantastic Four movie over the years, and the results have been…well, the charitable word for it would be “interesting.” We have yet to see a take that really capitalizes on the charm of Marvel’s First Family. Come on, guys, this was Stan Lee’s baby!
Well, things could have turned out very differently if 20th Century Fox had made one small adjustment: the choice of director. Today, I learned that Sean Astin, aka Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of The Rings (and Bob Newby from Stranger Things) could have directed the Fantastic Four movie — the 2005 one, the one with Chris Evans as the Human Torch.
It’s been an odd day. Watch below!
Astin dropped this bomb while talking with Collider at Amazing Las Vegas Comic-Con. “I said [to current Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige] ‘Listen, is there any way in the world that you’d consider me to direct Fantastic Four?'” Astin recalled. “He was like, ‘Well, I don’t know.’ I said, ‘So, are you saying there’s zero chance, no chance, 100 percent not gonna do it?’ He said, ‘Well, I’m not gonna say 0 percent.’ I’m like, ‘Ohhhh.'”
Apparently, both Christina Aguilera and Cameron Diaz were at one point in the running to play Sue Storm/the Invisible Woman. And Astin talked Michael Chiklis into playing Ben Grimm/the Thing. He sounds like he had his heart set on this.
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In any case, the movie went forward with Jessica Alba as Sue, and there was a sequel but neither movie set the world on fire. The franchise was rebooted in 2015 with a terrific cast, but it was an epic fail both critically and financially. How could a movie starring Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan tank that bad?!
Clearly, 20th Century Fox could have potentially saved this mess from happening had they let Sam Gamgee take the job. But hey, this doesn’t mean all hope is lost! Now that Disney officially owns the rights to Fantastic Four, Astin may still get a chance to live out his directing dream.
Of course, we don’t know of any such plans for a movie, but I’m be shocked if we didn’t hear something about a revival sooner rather than later. Disney will want to make the most of what it’s got, and with the Marvel Cinematic Universe humming along at warp speed, it’s proven that it can do a solid job.
We want Astin, we want Astin!
dark. Next. See Iron Man’s iconic snap…in front of a green screen on the set of Avengers: Endgame
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h/t SYFY Wire