Steven Spielberg dropped a diss on “Fantastic Four” director Josh Trank during a candid interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Spielberg and frequent Lucasfilm collaborators Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall were asked how they go about picking filmmakers – particularly relative newcomers – like “Jurassic World’s” Colin Trevorrow and “Rogue One’s” Gareth Edwards. THR writer Kim masters asked the trio how they avoid selecting young, inexperienced director who might crash and burn, citing the recent failure of “Fantastic Four’s” Trank, whose film bombed at the summer box office as reports of on-set tension and confusion marred the production.
“Who is that?” Spielberg replied, throwing some serious shade.
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It’s not likely that Spielberg is playing coy. Trank was on track to direct a future “Star Wars” installment, which Spielberg has been heavily involved with since the beginning; He is the one who suggested “Star Trek” director J.J. Abrams as the best choice to take on “Star Wars: the Force Awakens”. And we all know how well that turned out. It’s more than likely that Spielberg was in on the conversations around future “Star Wars” directors and kept tabs on Trank whose reputation took a nosedive after he trashed “Fantastic Four” in a tweet that was deleted, but not before it gained the attention of his thousands of followers, and then some.
Trank was on officially attached to a stand-alone “Star Wars” film as of June 2014, but skipped out on a series of “Star Wars” events, leading to further speculation that the parting of ways was not mutual. After passing on last year’s Star Wars Celebration event, Trank released a statement saying he had made “a personal decision to move forward on a different path.”
Trank’s career has been stalled since “fantastic Four” was released last August, with no writing or directing gigs currently lined up.
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During the candid THR interview, Spielberg revealed his plans for “Indiana Jones 5”, including one very important detail: “The one thing I will tell you is I’m not killing off Harrison [Ford] at the end of it.” We can all breathe a sigh of relief now.
