FANTASTIC FOUR DIRECTOR ON JOHNNY STORM'S RACE AND THE REBOOT'S TONE

Fantastic Four director Josh Trank has opened up on his decision-making behind his seemingly contentious casting, and the grittier tone he's taking with his reboot.

Speaking with Empire (via JoBlo), Trank was candid about the casting of Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm aka Human Torch, a white character in the comic books, and a black character in the reboot. While some of the film's detractors are quick to call "political correctness", Trank's reasoning is much more simple: it's the 21st century, and Jordan was the right guy for the role.

“I had just come off working with Michael B. Jordan and his character, Steve, in Chronicle had a lot of similar characteristics to Johnny Storm," said Trank.  "And I thought it would be interesting to take the family dynamic of the Storms, which is brother and sister, and bring that more into the 21st century in terms of what we consider the norm.  I have mixed family in my own family and it’s something that isn’t out of the ordinary anymore but we don’t really see it portrayed in the casual reality of the movies. That’s something I felt that would be interesting and challenging, to have mixed siblings.”

The idea of grounding Fantastic Four in reality is echoed in the character of Sue Storm, who will be a smart, vital character in the reboot, played by Kate Mara.

“There have always been two categories of Sue – the slutty secretary version, and this brilliant scientist version" said Trank. "This is a really, really smart Sue, and one that is dignified and has integrity.”

Trank also addressed the equally controversial tone of the film, which will be a lot darker than we have come to expect from a Fantastic Four movie.

“The original two films to me are very similar to a lot of recent movies that have come out, in terms of that kind of cartoonish. It’s just not something that me and Simon are interested in as storytellers. There’s the opportunity to make something that is challenging and tragic and dramatic. The opportunity is right there in the material. We’d rather steer it in that direction as opposed to just embracing a tone that comes right off the page.”

Fantastic Four will star Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller and Jamie Bell, and is due to hit theaters August 7, 2015.

---

Lucy O'Brien is Entertainment Editor at IGN AU. Follow her ramblings on Twitter.