Josh Trank has had a somewhat unique journey when it comes to his directing career. His low budget, found-footage movie -- Chronicle -- launched him into newfound success and, as a result, several projects were thrown his way, including his own Star Wars project. However, after the critically panned Fantastic Four bombed at the box office, his career took a significant dip.
Afterward, Josh Trank disappeared for a while, but has now returned with his latest movie Capone, starring Tom Hardy as the titular character. But many still have questions about his scrapped Star Wars film. Recently, Trank set the record straight on what happened with the project. Here’s what he said:
I quit because I knew I was going to be fired if I didn’t quit.
These comments to Polygon are somewhat surprising as initial reports years ago claimed Josh Trank was fired from the project.
This supposed firing came on due to the behind-the-scenes drama with Fantastic Four. Josh Trank’s initial cut of the film apprently didn’t sit well with Fox producers. In an effort to save it, they came in and made significant changes. But to make matters worse, rumors swirled of irresponsible on-set behavior from Trank. The constant back and forth drama reportedly created a lack of confidence from Lucasfilm and Kathleen Kennedy at the time, which it sounds like Josh Trank knew and decided to bow out as a result.
Now that the drama is over, it looks like Josh Trank has put it all behind him and is moving on to new things. He even wrote his own self-deprecating review of the Fantastic Four, and it’s pretty funny. He gave it two out of five stars, which is still higher than most critics.
As for Josh Trank’s Star Wars project, not many details were released at the time of what it could be. Lucasfilm had a Star Wars lineup in motion, from the new Star Wars trilogy to all the anthology films like Rogue One and Solo: A Star Wars Story. At the time, the rumors claimed that Trank's movie was likely about Boba Fett, and the studio was even said to be announcing it at an event, but cancelled that idea when he departed.
One of the reasons Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four movie didn’t do well with Fox’s executives was because it was uncomfortable and dark, a tone he used in Chronicle. It seems like Trank is continuing down that dark and gritty tone with Capone. From the looks of the trailer, audiences can expect to journey into the mind of Al Capone as he loses his power and descends into madness behind bars. Josh Trank seems right at home with this film. You can catch it on VOD on May 12.
