The Fantastic Four (2015)

The Fantastic Four (2015 film)
THE FANTASTIC FOUR is an upcoming superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics team created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. With storylines taken from the 2004 Ultimate Fantastic Four series by Mark Millar and Brian Michael Bendis, writer/director Josh Trank helms this sci-fi action/adventure with an ensemble cast including Star Trek's Anton Yelchin as military scientist 'Dr''. Reed Richards, with veteran screen actor Viggo Mortensen as Dr. Franklin Storm '''described as a father figure to the group.  Jamie Bill will be lending voice and capture to the films main villain with Tim Blake Nelson confirmed to portray eccentric conspiracy theorist Prof. Harvey Rupert Elder. American Hustle's Jack Huston signed a 3-picture deal to portray Latverian robotics expert Dr. Viktor Von Doom in a character-arch reportedly to span across multiple films. Filling out the principle cast is pop artist Taylor Momsen and Australian actor Callan McAuliffe as brother sister Sue and Johnny Storm.The Fantastic Four is scheduled for release on August 7th, 2015 in IMAX and 3D theaters.

Synopsis
The Fantastic Four follows two airmen, brilliant military scientist Dr. Richards and ace test pilot Ben Grimm, recruited by Central City's aerospace division to clear some debris out of N-Zone trade routes. As the astronaut equivalent of two garbage men, Ben and Reed make a discovery that threatens the entire Air Force operation, a large colony of alien insects are burrowing hive structures into these asteroid-size trash piles. Before seeing the job through to its end, Reed is asked to join Future Foundation; a Manhattan-based think tank where he reunites with his old mentor Frank Storm, fraternizes with Sue and Johnny as young adults, and forms a rivalry with Storm's new apprentice Viktor Von Doom. Their rivalry is put aside when Viktor discloses to Reed an explorer named Harvey Elder is keeping an interdimensional warlord called Annihilus in a cave on Monster Island.

Cast
Additionally, Riley Griffiths and CJ Adams will play young Ben Grimm and Reed Richards respectively. Michael B. Jordan and Alex Russell are cast in unspecified roles. J osh Trank , who directs the film, and Stan Lee have cameos.
 * Anton Yelchin as Mister Fantastic/Reed Richards: Yelchin said of the role, "When I read the script, I was reading this larger-than-life, incredible superhero tale. These are all very human people that end up having to become what is known as the Fantastic Four. For me it gives me an opportunity to play something different from my own skin."
 * Taylor Momsen as Susan Storm/Invisible Woman: Of the movie Momsen said,"We’re definitely telling a younger story that the original films did. They’re older than high school, but they’re not quite grown into the world. If anything, this is a coming of age story. So it is an origin story of the Fantastic Four, and it does follow them before they really know what a superhero is."
 * Callan McAuliffe as Johnny Storm/Human Torch: Callan said of the cast, "We're more or less a bunch of young adults that had an accident and we have disabilities now that we have to cope with, and try to find a life afterwards – try to be as normal as we can but obviously conflict follows. Coming to terms with reality and using these new found powers for a bigger, unimaginable cause."
 * Forest Griffin as Ben Grimm/The Thing: About taking the role, Griffin said, "There's very, very little expression in the face, if any at all, so everything has to live through the soul and the eyes. Everything. The subtleties of the physicality when standing there...you're a rock. You're made of rock, so you can't be super subtle but you can be if you sense that emotion coming out through the soul and the eyes. I'm just pouring the soul out of my eyes while walking through this space, while obviously being grounded with weight and mass and gravitas. It's not something that comes easy. You have to create this sense of thick space and you're carrying yourself with different parts of your body depending on the emotion of the character and the development of the character. I mean, I'm a kid trapped in a rock, and so how does that kid become a man after that experience? Through that evolution and that journey he moves from this sort of worried place to his pack that carries him through."
 * Jack Huston as Viktor Von Domashev/Dr Doom: An anti-social programmer and robotics expert. Huston said that while playing the role, he concentrated the most on the voice of the character. He added, "on the animated series, they never got his voice what I imagined it to be when I read the comics as a little boy. What I spent the majority of my time doing was not just being a fan, but being a bit of pedant and making sure I got exactly what I always wanted to see."
 * Viggo Mortenson as Dr. Franklin Storm: Mortenson on his role, "I knew it was a huge responsibility of tackling this role, but at the same time I looked forward to tackling that challenge and doing great work. I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing my whole career: putting the hard work in, doing my homework, and showing up and giving 100 percent."
 * Tim Blake Nelson as Harvey Elder: About joining the cast, "Without going into detail, the script has as much soul as it does action. And it has a lot of action." He continued, I absolutely loved working on 'Hulk' and feel extremely blessed that Marvel, Fox, and especially Josh Trank and his team have invited me back into the universe. The script is excellent. It has real heart, and it shows a true understanding of what it is to be a burgeoning adult geeked out to the margins."
 * Jamie Bell as Annihilus
 * Anna Popwell as Dr. Alyssa Moy: Alyssa Moy. An English Scientist and works under professor Harvey Elder.
 * Michelle Pfeiffer as Evelyn Richards:
 * Michael Biehn as Gary Richards: Biehn revealed his character is a retired NASA astronaut and sometimes "a pain in the ass."
 * Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Alicia Masters: Fiance of Ben Grimm and a blind sculptress.
 * Genevieve Knight Hannelius as Enid Richards: Reed Richards younger sister.

Development
'' "This  Fantastic Four  movie is sort of a celebration of all the  Fantastic Four  comics that have preceded it. We have elements from the original  Fantastic Four  that there's a sort of optimism and inspirational quality to the film. In some ways a comedy that was really distinct in the original  Fantastic Four . Also, the notion of this dysfunctional surrogate family that comes together and has to work together is very present in the movie that owes a great debt to the originals and this idea that they are scientist and that it's almost like this science adventure, more than being superheroes... We also owe a lot to the  Ultimate' s and the current crop of  Fantastic Four  comics." ''

—Simon Kinberg on adapting the Fantastic Four comic books into film.  In August 2009, 20th Century Fox opted to reboot the superhero franchise Fantastic Four and hired  Michael Green  and  Akiva Goldsman  to write and produce the film respectively. In 2012, after the financial and critical success of Chronicle, Fox hired Josh Trank to direct the reboot. Mark Millar, Fox movie consultant, later said,'' "From what I've seen and from talking to him, [...] He's a great storyteller. What I wasn't expecting actually was just how funny and likable he could make this as well as getting the more awesome moments on screen, [...] The Ridley Scott moments, and the Fantastic Four really are jaw-dropping in the same way you feel when you saw Alien for the first time. There's some moments in this - Not to be specific- That are actually gonna be phenomenal on screen and stuff you haven't seen in a superhero movie before." '' Fox hired Jeremy Slater   to write the screenplay. He described the project as  "the Fantastic Four movie fans deserve."   A release date was set for March 6th, 2015. In February 2013, Fox hired Seth Graham Smith to polish the script. Matthew Vaughn was then hired as producer. Josh Trank described the film as "[A] grounded, some-what re-imagining of the Fantastic Four. The essentials, the charm, the adventure is still there. But were putting these characters in a what-if real world situation." In June 2013, rumors circulated that Fox dumped the script and the crew. This was later debunked by Josh Trank in an interview saying, "We're hard at work right now. We're taking our time to make the best film we possibly can, but also moving as fast as we can to not make this our every day life priority." In October 2013, Fox hired Simon Kinberg to rewrite the script. Casting than officially began in January 2014. In February, of that year, Kinberg described the movie as "Huge" and continued,'' "The movie is a dramatic representation of the Fantastic Four. Yet, throughout all that, we can't lose the balance of spectacle and drama." ''Later that month ,  Kinberg later announced he will co-produce the film. Mark Millar revealed  it would take place in the same universe  as the X-Men Film Series. However, Trank later denied his statement.

Casting
In November 2013, Kinberg and Trank had finished rewriting the script and casting for the roles of Reed Richards and Sue Storm began. Miles Teller, Kit Harrington, Richard Madden and Jack O' Connel were tested for the role of Reed Richards, while Kate Mara, Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie and Emmy Rossum were tested for Susan Storm. In January 2014, Callan McAuliffe landed the role described as 'kid brother' mechanic & space engineer Jonathan Storm, and musician Taylor Momsen as the telekinetic Susan Storm. In February, MMA Champion and comedic sports personality Forrest Griffin was cast as rugged Air Force test-pilot Ben Grimm via vocal performance and motion capture prosthetic; with Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Grimm's fiance, Alicia Masters. The following weeks, Anton Yelchin was cast as Military Scientist Reed Richards. In the following weeks, The Walking Dead's Abraham Ford actor Michael Cudlitz was cast to play Lt. Wilford "Willie" Lumpkin, the Baxter Building's mailman and prodigy recruitment agent. Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn's Anna Popplewell will play Reed's former love interest Dr. Alyssa Moy, an English scientist and explorer working under Professor Elder. Michael Biehn was cast in March to take on which he described a brief but high-impact role as Reed's father, retired NASA astronaut Gary Richards, and producer Matthew Vaughn sought out Michelle Pfeiffer for Reed's mother Evelyn Richards. In April, Jack Huston was cast as Viktor Von Doom over others such as Toby Kebbell, James Fanco, and Jake Gyllenhaal. A week before filming commenced, Jamie Bell was cast as the films villain, Annihilus'''.  On July 8th,    Genevieve Knight Hannelius  was cast as Enid Richards. '''

Filming
 Principle Photography commenced on May 5, 2014 at Celtic Media Centre in 'Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 'Josh Trank f ilmed with anamorphic 35mm and IMAX  film photography. On location and sets were built as Trank wanted to use as little CGI as possible.  On June 4th, filming took place at the Great Basin Desert for two weeks where a massive set was built, which included a shuttle  and a military base.

 A reported "crash landing" also took place. Production then relocated to Chicago which doubled for New York City and hundreds of extras were use to stimulate an earthquake. On June 24th, production  moved to  Kualoa Ranch. Reports revealed that it would double as Monster Isle. Leak set pictures confirmed that a huge action sequence took place there with several asteroids were seen crashing down. On  August 7th, p roduction then returned to Baton Rouge, where the rest of filming will finish. Baton Rouge doubled for  Central City, California.. On August 25th, a set pic leaked revealing a stand in for The Thing and On September 1st , leaked set pictures revealed Jack Huston's '' Dr. Doom. ''Filming ended September 17th, 2014.

Production Design
For The Fantastic Four costumes, Trank revealed they created a variation using the Future Foundation suits. ''"It's sleek, agile, and endurable. We wanted something more practical and space age appropriate and the classic blue suits never made final cut. With the Future Foundation, there's this philosophical nuance of little hope in such a black-and-white world where hope has little to no meaning, and can't be exactly demonstrated. They represent the better tomorrow." '' Callan McAuliffe revealed for some of the film they wear containment suits. ''"It’s a new look. We are all in containment suits. … It’s gritty. It’s a gritty film." ''

The film also features a robot, HERBIE, who is an unmanned A.I. space probe. Trank didn't want to make HERBIE anthropomorphic or personify it and chose a complex, amalgamate design. The director said, "It has a very complicated design mingled. It has to look as if it can really be built in this world. You've got to get creative and use out of the box thinking to create these things. So it's really based off mathematics and essentially, it's all proportional."

The film also features a space craft The Stigma. A spherical craft that runs on repulsor technology. Trank has revealed that the craft works for space as a submarine to water, "Using the void of space for it's advantage". The craft is able to enter and exit planetary atmospheres, has compartments for colonization equipment, hulls of permanent functions of cockpit, and medical labs habitation. He described is as compact but nimble. For the design of Annihilus and the Arthrosians, Trank has stated that he wanted to make Annihilus less robotic and more "Insectoid". Kinberg called the character, "Creepy", and elaborated, ''"Just a freaky little fella. He's horrific in the most disgusting way. Essentially an insect, an annoying bug. But not so easy to just to swap and kill." ''

Sound design
Trank revealed that inside the N-Zone, sound travels in vibration and called the sound mixing, "An interesting challenge and technological achievement".

Post Production
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">The film was shot in IMAX and will be converted to 3D. On September 19th, the release date was pushed back to August 7th, 2015. Marketing

An official synopsis and poster was revealed at New York Comic Con 2014.

<span style="color:rgb(58,58,58);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Visual Effects
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">The film is using OTOY  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;"> for the visual effects. According to Josh Trank, with the use of cloud-rendering technology from OTOY, they can create visual effects at a much lower cost

Marketing
A teaser poster was released at San Diego Comic Con 14.

Sequel
A sequel is scheduled to be released on July 14, 2017.