Fantastic Four reboot: "I knew it was going to get ugly"

We're two months and two days away now from the release of Fox's Fantastic Four reboot, which is being directed by Chronicle helmer Josh Trank. The new film has caused "intense conversation" pretty much from day one, with reports of alterations to the source material, and debate over the film's casting. In particular, Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm and Jamie Bell as The Thing.

Chatting to Hero Complex, Trank admitted that "I knew it was going to get ugly," adding that "I get it. I have a lot of friends who are older than me who are comic fans, and it's really hard for them to be on board with a change like that. Fantastic Four has been theirs for longer than I've been alive. It hasn't been mine."

Trank argued though that "you can't just keep telling it the same way over and over again. I think it only helps the world to be more honest with young kids, to show them the world that they go walk outside and see."

Producer and co-writer Simon Kinberg added that "the change of Jamie as Ben being a smaller guy instead of a bigger guy, for example, was for a purpose. It's more dramatic when that character becomes a huge rock creature – that's a bigger transformation. The notion of a working-class tough guy who's been pushed around by his bigger brothers his whole life seemed like a more interesting character than the guy who started as a football player and just ended up being four inches taller."

Both Trank and Kinberg argue that it's worth waiting and seeing how the final film turns out, although the director says he's open to hearing what people think. The film lands on August 7th and the full interview piece is here.