Steven Spielberg makes perfectly snarky comment about 'Fantastic Four' director Josh Trank
Don't mess with Steven Spielberg.
In a candid interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Academy Award winner managed to sneak in a very subtle diss aimed at Fantastic Four director Josh Trank.
Spielberg and longtime collaborators Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, and producer Frank Marshall were discussing the casual way they pick filmmakers, particularly newcomers, for franchises like Jurassic World and Star Wars, when writer Kim Masters asked how they avoid selecting young directors who might crash and burn, specifically citing Trank. Spielberg had a surprising reply.
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"Who is that?" he asked.
That's some subtle, Oscar-winning shade.
That's some subtle, Oscar-winning shade.
The young director helmed the much maligned Fantastic Four reboot and was formerly on track to direct a Star Wars spinoff, a franchise Spielberg knows a little something about. He's literally been invested since its incarnation, and most recently was the one who suggested J.J. Abrams direct The Force Awakens.
So, it's more than likely (read: EXTREMELY DEFINITELY LIKELY) he was involved in conversations about future Star Wars directors and knows everything there is to know about Trank, whose reputation took a dive after the release of Fantastic Four, when he skipped out on Star Wars events and dissed his own movie in a quickly deleted tweet.
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But hey ... there's always a chance Spielberg genuinely doesn't know who Trank is.
The three power players also talked about how Jurassic World was almost directed by J.A. Bayona instead of Colin Trevorrow.
"Kathy and I have spent a lot of time with Juan Antonio over the years," Marshall said. "We had talked about him doing Jurassic World, but he has a long process for production."
Instead, Bayona will helm the upcoming sequel.
They also shared the extremely casual way J.J. Abrams got the gig for The Force Awakens. Spielberg mentioned it to Kennedy, they talked about it, then they called up Abrams, who initially said no.
"He said, 'I would but my wife won't let me 'cause she doesn't want me to restart any more franchises,'" Spielberg recalls.
So, Spielberg asked Abrams and his wife Katie to a nice dinner at Giorgio's in Hollywood and "popped the question."
"I said to Katie, 'I think there's a chance that J.J. could direct Star Wars. What do you think of that?'" Spielberg says. "And Katie turned to J.J. and said, 'That would be amazing. Really?' And I went outside the restaurant, picked up my phone, called Kathy and said, 'When can we meet with J.J.?' And that's how the whole thing began."
Ah, the glamorous life of the Hollywood elite.
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Topics Star Wars
Yohana Desta was the senior film reporter for Mashable. She is a Northern Virginia native and an American University grad. She enjoys carefully curating her Instagram account and can often be found reading books, going to concerts, watching movies and learning way too much about pop culture.
