Speaking on the happysadconfused podcast, Teller explained that the problem basically came down to a bad script. Teller’s comments suggest he might not have been happy with the script when he signed on, but felt the opportunity and potential of the film was such that it was difficult to pass up. Constant changes to the script made things worse instead of better, resulting in the film that eventually hit the screen.I think it was Clooney who said you can make a bad movie out of a good script, you can’t make a good movie out of a bad script, and that’s very true. If they’re telling you maybe your part’s not as big and they say, ‘Oh you’re gonna be bigger in the sequel’ or ‘Oh we’re gonna rewrite’ and ‘Yeah we’re gonna take in all these notes,’ if you’re in a position where you can say hold off I’m not signing off on this dotted line until this script is exactly where you want it, then you’re in a very fortunate position. Because I know actors that have been in literally Oscar-winning performances that told me that script was a struggle every day to get it to a place that [they] wanted it, and [they] were always fighting for the best version of it.
Teller was careful not to point fingers and single anyone out as being part of the problem, though. He explained that a lot of people worked hard on the film, and that he thought the crew usually worked harder on bad films trying to make things good than they do on movies where everything just clicks.
“People think that when you make something like a Fantastic Four that doesn’t do well, people think ‘Oh you phoned it in’ and it couldn’t be more untrue. You work harder on the bad films, or the films that turn out maybe not the way you intended, because something’s not working. And I thought it was kind of unjustly critiqued that way; there are even bigger bombs if you’re looking at how much money went into the production and what they reaped back. But I think it’s unfortunate a movie like that becomes a scarlet letter on a resume when so many talented people worked really hard and maybe a handful of people took it in a negative direction. But so many people worked really hard on that that are so talented.”
Personally as I first said in my Review of the Fantastic Four the film was not as horrible as critics have let on, it is not a particularly good film but at least unlike some other bad superhero movies (Catwoman, Steel, Wolverine Origins) it was just done all wrong and given the time and resources probably could have been an ok addition to the growing superhero film world.
And considering the Fantastic Four are like one of the greatest icons of the Marvel Universe, even dubbed as “Marvel’s First Family” I can only assume sometime in the future, someone will make another attempt and hopefully will learn from all the previous history of mistakes. I mean hell they are planning another reboot of Nightmare on Elm Street… so why not?
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