The reboot of Fantastic Four remains one of the most disparaged Marvel movies in recent history, and the issues surrounding director Josh Trank‘s on-set behavior continue to be discussed by fans. And while many of the stars have spoken out about their time filming Fantastic Four, Sue Storm / Invisible Woman actress Kate Mara has recently spoken out about her experience on set, detailing her disappointment with how it all unfolded. While she never explicitly named Trank, Mara did explain that she had a “horrible experience” making Fantastic Four during an interview with Emmy Magazine. She then opened up more while speaking with Collider.
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Mara was promoting her new FX series A Teacher when she said she wishes things were different on the set of previous films. She specifically said she wished she followed her instincts and stood up for herself while filming.
“I think that speaking up is something that I think that we all probably learn it over and over again, to follow your instincts and if you’re feeling a certain thing that is uneasy or whatever, there’s a reason for it,” explained Mara. “But, because it was such a big movie and again, usually, except in this case, when you’re in a big superhero movie they usually do incredibly well, like almost always. So even if it’s challenging, or this or that, or not everything’s perfect, it’s probably good for you to do it. That was sort of what I was being told and also was telling myself.”
She added, “And I don’t regret doing it at all, but do regret not having stood up for myself. I regret that for sure. Because if my daughter ended up acting and was in a situation like that where she felt like she couldn’t speak up – meanwhile, I’m a pretty tough person and I really do advocate for myself. Granted, this was a few years ago and maybe this situation was different, but if I was in that situation today, it just wouldn’t have happened or it just would have been a different environment I think. So again, good learning experience, you know?”
Mara also said she learned a valuable lesson in taking word-of-mouth advice from her colleagues when it comes to working with certain filmmakers and actors. Again, she does not name Trank or any of her co-stars, but these are lessons she learned while making Fantastic Four.
“This is another great lesson that I learned – asking other actors – and I learned this lesson not just on this movie, but a couple others after that – asking other actors what their experience was like working with either a producer or a director or another actor,” Mara explained. “I never used to do that and now I do because I think that if you really respect another actor and they’ve worked with someone that you’re thinking about working with, then you can learn a lot just by talking to them. And I always say, if anyone ever wants to ask me about my experiences on things, then please do because I think that if you’re in a position where you can make a choice about doing something or not doing something – and we’re not always, sometimes you just have to work – but if you’re in a position where you can, doing the research not just with the role but with the people that you’re about to work with creatively is really important.”
Mara’s new series A Teacher is currently streaming on FX on Hulu.
