Fantastic Four Star Miles Teller Reflects On Film’s Failure

Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four grossed less than $170 million at the worldwide box office and lost $80 million for 20th Century Fox. Aside from being a box office failure, it was panned by critics and moviegoers alike. Whenever a film flops on as many levels as Fantastic Four did, actors fear it will leave a black mark on their careers — even if it wasn’t their fault.

Miles Teller, who starred as the rubbery Reed Richards, is trying to look at the film’s failure as a learning experience. “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,” Teller told the happysadconfused podcast (via Slash Film). “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 has heard criticism that some of the Fantastic Four cast phoned in their performances, and he believes that particular critique is unwarranted. “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,” he said. “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.”

Transported to an alternate universe, four young outsiders gain superhuman powers as they alter their physical form in shocking ways. Reed Richards becomes Mr. Fantastic, able to stretch and twist his body at will, while pal Ben Grimm gains immense strength as the Thing. Johnny Storm becomes the Human Torch, able to control and project fire, while his sister Sue becomes the Invisible Woman. Together, the team must harness their new abilities to prevent Doctor Doom from destroying the Earth.