Following up on last week’s rundown of rumors surrounding Fox’s reboot of the Fantastic Four franchise, we now can share with you a possibly meaningless short-list of directors the studio is considering/courting!
Coming from ComicBookMovie.com, the list is composed of three directors- David Yates, Joe Carnahan, and James McTeigue.
Yates is the now very high-profile director of the back half of the Harry Potter series, who will be overseeing the release of the two monstrous franchise closers over the next year. Presumably he could pick up FFR next year after Part II of Deathly Hallows, but it seems unlikely he would be able to make the Spring 2011 start date that CBM claims. Also, jumping from the (current) biggest money-making franchise on the planet to rebooting Fantastic Four for Fox seems like a weird move, unless Yates is a big fan of the comics.
Carnahan (A-Team, Smokin’ Aces) and McTeigue (Ninja Assassin, V for Vendetta) both feel like more appropriate and possible choices for Fox to make happen. You’ll also notice they are both directors that come with a bit of an edge- Fantastic Four Reborn has been (very vaguely) reported to be darker/more tonally dramatic (and less origin-focused) than the existing goofy-as-shit films. Carnahan and McTeigue both bring a level of comfort with grit, be it the more melodramatic, comic book violence of McTeigue’s work, or Carnahan’s more tongue-in-cheek mayhem.
With whispers of actress casting reports, a fully CGI Thing (duh) voiced by Kiefer Sutherland or Bruce Willis, a Doctor Doom played by Stephen Moyer from True Blood, and a team led by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers or Adrien Brody, there is more than enough unsubstantiated bullshit to get fans of the franchise talking. Some of this stuff will no doubt shake out as true, but we’re still several official announcements away from really having an idea what shape this reboot will take.