Miles Teller Blames 'One Really Important Person' For The Biggest Bomb Of His Career

2 weeks ago 12

Jason is an award-winning journalist whose writing career dates back to when he developed the ability to use a crayon. He, most notably, worked previously as a "professional fan," as he likes to call it, at CinemaBlend, for which he wrote about anything and everything under the pop culture umbrella... especially Batman. His passion for the art of cinema began even earlier, stemming from repeat viewings of The Wizard of Oz.
This initially led him to pursue a career in filmmaking -- and even work briefly in the industry as an extra in the straight-to-video family film, Alice Upside Down -- before deciding that his talents would be better served discussing and showing appreciation for the various forms of entertainment he is passionate about.

Miles Teller has been blessed with one of Hollywood's most remarkable and versatile careers in recent memory, having starred in wildly acclaimed instant classics like 2014's Academy Award-winning drama Whiplash and astonishingly successful blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick in 2022. However, not all the actor's credits have been hits, particularly his first try at jumping on the superhero movie trend, Fantastic Four.

While appearing on Sirius XM's Radio Andy to promote his new romantic A24 fantasy comedy, Eternity — in which he plays a recently deceased man competing for the affections of his wife (played by Elizabeth Olsen) against her first love (played by Callum Turner) in the afterlife — Teller was asked by host Andy Cohen if he ever had an inkling that Fantastic Four "wasn't great." He elaborated on his experience.

You know, I think it’s unfortunate for that because so many people worked so hard on that movie. And, honestly, maybe there was one really important person who kind of f---ed it all up.

Teller abstains from naming the "one really important person" who, in his opinion, sealed the downfall of Fantastic Four (otherwise known as FANT4STIC, which it was stylized as in the marketing). However, many replies to a social media post sharing the clip assume he is referring to the movie's director, Josh Trank, who is said to have been difficult to work with on the set. The filmmaker also famously discredited the movie on Twitter before it was even released, claiming that studio tampering hindered his intended vision.

Fantastic Four, which is a dark, Cronenbergian take on the Marvel Comic from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, was bombarded by critics, earning a dismal 9% on Rotten Tomatoes, and was not a hit with audiences either, raking in only $56.1 million at the box office in North America. It has since been regarded by many as one of the absolute worst superhero movies ever made for its unnecessarily dark reinterpretation of traditionally lighthearted characters, sluggish pacing, inhuman dialogue and wooden acting.

Yet, Teller, who plays the flexible Reed Richards in Fantastic Four, was sure to mention in his interview with Andy Cohen that he has nothing but respect and admiration for his co-stars. Kate Mara also stars as Susan Storm, Michael B. Jordan (who received praise for playing another Marvel character, Killmonger, in Black Panther three years later) appears as the incendiary Johnny Storm and Jamie Bell is Ben Grimm, whose rock-like skin earns him the nickname, "The Thing."

The Fantastic Four Struggled On The Big Screen For Decades

The cast of 2015's Fantastic Four staring at a giant portal in the sky

Ten years later, Marvel Comics' first superhero family was thankfully redeemed on the big screen with the release of the Marvel Cinematic Universe-canon film, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which was a hit with critics and audiences. However, it should also be noted that FANT4STIC is far from the first cinematic adaptation of Marvel Comics' first superhero family to garner disappointing results.

Ten years before that flop, Fox released director Tim Story's Fantastic Four, which was commercially successful enough to warrant a follow-up, 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. However, despite some redeeming qualities — especially Michael Chiklis' heartfelt performance as Ben Grimm — neither film was kindly received by critics and failed to sway most fans at the time.

However, at least those films actually made it to the big screen, unlike producer Roger Corman's The Fantastic Four, which boasts one of the most infamous production stories in Hollywood history. While filmed to completion in the early 1990s, the comic book movie, which was meant to be the heroes' live-action debut, was mysteriously never released, with some, including Stan Lee, claiming it was only made to retain the rights for producer Bernd Eichinger, who never actually intended for it to see the light of day.

2015's Fantastic Four is available to stream on Disney+.