Monday, June 20, 2016

Josh Trank Is The Catchall for Failed Young Directors

Josh Trank
The young Josh Trank epitomizes what happens when a director tries his hand on the big league films even before he is ready.

After 2012's "Chronicle" minted him as a 27-year-old director with a No. 1 film, Trank was not only given the job of rebooting "Fantastic Four," he was also tapped to direct one of the "Star Wars" spinoffs that will launch later this year with Gareth Edwards's "Rogue One."

Everything looked promising until Trank changed everything on "Fantastic Four" by casting first a black actor to play the very white Caucasian FF4 beloved character Johnny Storm. Everyone was at first taken by surprise on how an upstart director easily changed the source material with more than 50 years of history. The reason was finally revealed after it was reported that Trank and the actor that played "The Human Torch," Michael B. Jordan, are friends.

After the "Fantastic Four" crashed and burned in theaters, Trank and Fox desperately blamed each other for the debacle. Trank still refuses to acknowledge the fact that his decision to divert from the sources material was the main reason why moviegoers refused to see the movie. His arrogance also led producers to relieve him from his "Star Wars" duties.

Since then, Trank has been laying low. His name will not even come up anymore as a sort of urban myth filmmakers tell each other late at night. He's glory days is finish.

Trank's career is not at its lowest as evident during the s fascinating Kim Masters interview in "The Hollywood Reporter" with Steven Spielberg, Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, and producer Frank Marshall. Masters asks the group, "So when you look at young directors, how do you know you're not hiring another Josh Trank?"

Spielberg's response: "Who is that?" OUCH!

Coming from a legend of sci-fi filmmaking whom Trank probably looks up to as an inspiration, that’s cold.

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