Yesterday, Fantastic Four starlet Kate Mara told a journalist the upcoming superhero adaptation wasn’t going to pull any subject matter from the comic books. The franchise’s always colorful fans, not surprisingly, didn’t respond too positively to that, and now, one day later, we’re in backtrack city.
Kate Mara’s publicist reached out to Entertainment Weekly this afternoon to let the outlet know the House Of Cards star was misquoted. Instead, she allegedly told Esquiare Latin America that Fantastic Four would be based on many Fantastic Four-related comics. That obviously sounds a whole lot better to diehard fans, but there’s some question as to which one of the takes is really more true.
Here’s a look at the actual original quote…
"I’ve never been a fan of comics, I’ve never actually read one. I was going to for this movie but the director said it wasn’t necessary. Well, actually he told us that we shouldn’t do it because the plot won’t be based on any history of anything already published. So I chose to follow his instructions."
That certainly doesn’t seem like something that could possibly be misquoted. Rather, it seems like a pretty clear statement about the instructions she’d been given. That being said, it doesn’t necessarily mean she was informed correctly. She may have been told by director Josh Trank that there was no point in reading any comic books because the plot of the movie wouldn’t be found there. Maybe it’s a mish-mash of numerous plotlines and character traits that developed over the years and is being repackaged for a new time. We just don’t know. That’s the power of the Hollywood publicity machine.
Once upon a time, the Hollywood publicity machine turned pretty slowly. There was no twenty-four hour news cycle, and without Twitter or Facebook, it was hard to measure any kind of outrage. So, if a Rock Hudson rumor got out of control, he could simply be photographed the next weekend with a smoking hot starlet to stop the whispers from gaining more momentum. Problem solved. That’s not the case anymore. Now, things need to be dealt with immediately. So, a day after Kate Mara’s flippant comment, we now have a full denial from the publicist. Tomorrow, we may get a full statement from Fox or director Josh Trank. It probably depends mostly on whether the outrage continues following this denial.
This Fantastic Four reboot doesn’t have a ton of positive momentum thanks to a slew of controversies, but given all the talent involved, it could still turn out to be great. We’ll see.
