When Josh Trank (Chronicle, Fantastic Four) no showed at Star Wars Celebration this year, fans of the franchise knew that the writing was likely on the wall for her furthered involvement in the series. Given reports of his erratic behavior on the set of Fantastic Four, his exit from the Star Wars spin-off that he was on to direct seemed like no surprise by the time it actually happened.

Today, speaking with the LA Times, Trank opens up about why he left the franchise, giving his side of the story:

I knew that this was going to be questioned and it was going to come under skepticism as to why I left ‘Star Wars’. And it was hard. It was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life… I want to do something original after this, because I’ve been living under public scrutiny, as you’ve seen, for the last four years of my life and it’s not healthy for me right now in my life. I want to do something that’s below the radar.

Trank also commented directly on his biggest critics and states that he remains close with the team at Lucasfilm:

[T]hey all understood it because this whole experience for me has been very psychologically hard…It feels sometimes like I’m living in a Paddy Chayefsky script or something like that. Every misconception that could possibly be made about this has been made to a hilariously satirical degree. And it’s people who haven’t met me before. If they met me – I don’t know, I feel like I’m a pretty harmless person.

Perhaps Trank will get the last laugh here if his Fantastic Four becomes the big hit that Fox hopes it will be, or perhaps not. We’ll find out on August 7th.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Not explained. He’s been working on pre-production on a Star Wars film for a year so who’s been working on the post-production of Fantastic Four? Joss Whedon was working on Age of Ultron until close before its release and was so exhausted he’s stepped back from doing any films like that for awhile. Directors tend to be working on their films right up until the release. When Paramount wanted to release J.J. Abrams first Star Trek film in summer 2009 rather than X-Mas 2008, Abrams took the time to tinker with the soundtrack and do other things he otherwise wouldn’t have had the time for, but he wasn’t working on another film a year before Star Trek came out.

  2. “Directors tend to be working on their films right up until the release.”

    While this can happen, it’s far from the standard or even a common practice. Directors are not editors, they are two separate jobs and two separate tasks, most directors are terrible editors, see also every M. Night Shyamalan movie ever.

  3. I recall that Tim Burton was doing reshoots on his lousy PLANET OF THE APES remake a week before the film’s release. It didn’t help!

    “see also every M. Night Shyamalan movie ever.”

    THE SIXTH SENSE and especially UNBREAKABLE (Grant Morrison’s favorite superhero movie) are brilliantly shot, edited and acted. The decline began with SIGNS.

  4. The first warning sign was UNBREAKABLE because it showed that Night has only got one tone for every story.

    Mike

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