Not all these new sources agree, however. Some who worked on the film say Trank was driven to the breaking point by the studio, and that his clash was not with Kinberg but Fox production president Emma Watts. The studio delayed casting and script approvals, slashed the budget by tens of millions from what was originally promised during the development phase, and tried to force last-minute script changes to the film just as principal photography was beginning, according to several individuals who worked on the movie.
Just take a look at the list of producers, which includes not only Kinberg but former Fox production chief Hutch Parker, and X-Men: First Class filmmaker Matthew Vaughn, and its clear the studio kept switching up managers and expectations. Fox executives desperately wanted to reboot Fantastic Four after the indifferently received big screen versions in 2005 and 2007, but they bristled at many of the traditional comic book elements that defined the characters.
There was uncertainty about who should star. MIchael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm was set from the start, but the studio wanted a different actor than Miles Teller for Reed Richards. Trank won that battle – but he lost on Fox’s insistence that Kate Mara be given the role of Sue Storm. Different sources say Trank was indecisive, others say the studio was hemming and hawing on his choices. Either way the script was not finalized until late in preproduction, and continued to change right through reshoots, which stalled crew workers who were trying to build sets, make costumes, props, and prep the movie. This created confusion and stress from the get-go that often boiled over among department heads trying to put together pieces of a movie that was still in flux.
