It appears that Fox may have finally found their cast for the Fantastic Four reboot.
According to reports Michael B. Jordan is set to play the Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, Jamie Bell is in negotiations to play Ben Grimm/The Thing, Kate Mara has closed a deal to play Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, and Miles Teller has an offer to play Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic.
Jordan has been rumored to be up for the role for some time now, while both Mara and Teller have been among the names said to be testing for roles. Bell has not been mentioned before, but came into play later when Fox resumed screen testing.
The Wrap first reported the foursome, with Variety updating Mara from in talks to locked in.
The one big question mark appears to be Teller, who wants the gig and is the top choice to play Mr. Fantastic but is also locked into Divergent and its sequel Insurgent, which will be filming around the same time as Fantastic Four is set to begin production.
Bell is known from movies like Billy Elliot and Peter Jackson’s King Kong, as well as The Adventures of Tintin, where he acquired useful performance capture experience that could have played into his being chosen to play The Thing.
Mara is known from shows like American Horror Story and House of Cards, and movies like Shooter and the upcoming Johnny Depp thriller Transcendence.
Jordan starred in the microbudgeted found footage hit Chronicle and the drama Fruitvale Station, while Tellar starred in Project X and 21 & Over before recently breaking out in The Spectacular Now. The pair also recently appeared together alongside Zac Efron in That Awkward Moment.
Josh Trank (Chronicle) will direct the Fantastic Four reboot.
What do you think of Fox’s picks to play the new Fantastic Four?
[Sources: The Wrap, Variety]
HORRIBLE, AWFUL, TERRIBLE, CRAPPY. I won’t see this. They do realize that Johnny and Sue are supposed to be siblings right? Not adopted siblings; blood relatives. Why is Reed a 20 something Punk ass looking kid. Why is Ben Grimm British? Sue wouldn’t be to bad but w/ everyone else NO F’ING WAY I’ll ever see this CRAP. The last FF movies weren’t perfect but at least they understood the dynamic and look of the characters and comic. I can not begin to say how incredibly disappointed I am in this casting. You suck Fox.
Comment by UNCARING1 — February 20, 2014 @ 11:47 am
this is a fucking joke right? #fantasticfail
Comment by LakesideHappy — February 20, 2014 @ 12:04 pm
No, I think it’s a huge casting mistake! And I agree 100% with UNCARING1. Apparently Fox wants to do to the Fantastic Four what Roland Emmerich and gang did to the 1998 American Godzilla movie. (Which BTW wasn’t Godzilla). Despite the title of the film. This is very bad news in my opinion. Nothing against the male actors..they need work, I get it. But they don’t have the right look, and age to play the parts correctly. My only guess is that Fox wants to cast B-list stars who are inexpensive to sign on for the film, unlike their more widely known A-list stars. If they cast these kids, it’s going to be a BIG MISTAKE!
Comment by Ronald Oliver — February 20, 2014 @ 2:30 pm
The way I see it, the Fantastic Four films couldn’t get much worse. The tone was wrong, and they totally ruined both Galactus and Dr. Doom. Any dummy knows that unless you set the Fantastic Four film back in the 60’s at the time of the space race, the origin as laid down in the comics just doesn’t work. So if you have to retconn the origin, then the casting doesn’t bother me. As long as they can make the Thing look more thing like, I’ll even forgive the point that we won’t see the Yancey Street Gang, but if there’s a British equivalent, then it’s still all good.
Comment by nelsonsmith — February 21, 2014 @ 9:07 am
Terrible casting all around; I’m saving my $12, staying home the day this opens and maybe read some of the Essential Marvel TPB collections of the Lee/Kirby issues instead. My ideal casting for the FF reboot goes something like this:
Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards: JON HAMM
The Invisible Woman/Sue Storm: YVONNE STRAVHOWSKI
The Human Torch/Johnny Storm: CHRIS PINE
The Thing/Ben Grimm: BRUCE WILLIS
Doctor Doom/Victor Von Doom: JASON ISAACS
Alicia Masters: CAREY MULLIGAN
The Silver Surfer/Norrin Radd: DOUG JONES(yeah, he played the role already; but why mess with perfection?)
voice of Galactus: JAMES EARL JONES
Comment by MadMike R5D4 — February 21, 2014 @ 4:05 pm
Maybe they’ll just decide not to make it and the rights will revert back to Marvel…
Comment by NihilistPie — February 25, 2014 @ 12:51 pm
Isnt who I would have picked by no means but when I think back to how truly crappy the last two FF movies were if this time they manage to get a halfway decent movie out it will be an improvement. When I compare it to the previous movies it actually seems like an improvement- although thats not saying much.
Comment by Tony Lious — February 26, 2014 @ 11:24 pm