Fantastic Four Director Reveals He Wanted Black Actress To Play Sue Storm, Says He Should Have Quit When Studio Didn’t Agree

In an interview with Geeks of Color (h/t JoBlo), Fantastic Four director Josh Trank revealed that in addition to casting Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm, he also pushed to have an African American actress play Sue Storm as well. Trank claims he received a lot of “pushback” to the idea though.

“There were a lot of controversial conversations that were had behind the scenes on that. I was mostly interested in a black Sue Storm, a black Johnny Storm, and a black Franklin Storm. But also, when you’re dealing with a studio on a massive movie like that, everybody wants to keep an open mind to, like, who the big stars are going to be. ‘Maybe it’ll be Margot Robbie,’ or something like that. But when it came down to it, I found a lot of pretty heavy pushback on casting a black woman in that role.”

The role of Sue Storm ended up going to Kate Mara, and Trank said that he feels he should have left the production of the movie at that time.

“When I look back on that, I should have just walked when that realization sort of hit me, and I feel embarrassed about that, that I didn’t just out of principle. Because those aren’t the values I stand for in my own life; those weren’t the values then or ever for me. Because I’m somebody who always talks about standing up for what I believe in, even if it means burning my career out. I feel bad that I didn’t take it to the mat with that issue. I feel like I failed in that regard.”

The film ended up being a disappointment, both with critics and at the box office, to say the least.