Fantastic Four reboot-- Casting, Rumors, Pix, ect;

[stj]

Black men being more bad ass than white men may be more positive but it still blurs into stereotyping. You want to get bold, cast Reed Richards with a Black actor. Then gypsy Doom's fellow non-white positive feelings Reed can clash with his gypsies are white feelings. Also, we have a built-in explanation of why Reed is so go-it-alone and driven. And casting Ben Grimm as a homey follows naturally.

Also, part of the Torch's original character is not being very smart or at least, being very inexperienced. Making him so badass in some respects is revisionist, to no good purporse. If he's so badass, why's he hanging with his older sister?

 

[JoeZhang]

Ben Grimm as a homey follows naturally.

Ben's back-story has never really sat well with how he has been written over the years - I can understand that it was to contrast him with Reed but a Test Pilot and Astronaut who is that dumb*? doubtful.


* to be fair, a few writers have highlighted this now and again.

 

[JoeZhang]

There were wealthy African-Americans before the Civil War. There has been a privileged layer long enough that the phrase "Talented Tenth" was coined for them back at the turn of the twentieth century. SF fans might be aware of Samuel R. Delany's family background from his autobiographical works. Not too long ago, the Sanaa Lathan/Simon Baker film Something New put some of it on popular film. ER is a little older, but the Angela Bassett/Courtney B. Vance characters came from the same milieu.

It is of course true that as yet no African-Americans have as yet reached the extraordinary heights of the Rockefellers in their heyday. But I shouldn't be surprised if some have indeed reached the levels of a Hilton.

PS My belief is that DuBois wouldn't approve every self-assignment to the "Talented Tenth."

Have you read the Daniel Way's Nighthawk series from a few years ago? It does not try to hit the fact that is a What if Bruce Wayne was black series.

 

[stj]

^^^Sorry, haven't read any comics since the Seventies.

 

[Dr.H]

Ben Grimm would be a black athletic jock football player from detroit who was High school mates with the nerdy white guy that is Reed Richards who Grimm protected from bullies.

Did i GO TOO FAR?

 

[stj]

^^^Of course not. Having Black athlete Ben and skinny nerd Reed be gay lovers would be going to far though.

 

[JoeZhang]

^^^Sorry, haven't read any comics since the Seventies.

Well then this will not spoil you - his parents are killed by racists and at the end when he is confronted by the joker, he basically says "who do you think you are fucking with" and kills him.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Ben Grimm as a homey follows naturally.

Ben's back-story has never really sat well with how he has been written over the years - I can understand that it was to contrast him with Reed but a Test Pilot and Astronaut who is that dumb*? doubtful.


* to be fair, a few writers have highlighted this now and again.

Ben Grimm is actually very intelligent. He plays at being dumb because of his background and because of his low self-esteem. His low self-esteem is what always prevented him from being able to change back and forth like the others can.

 

[suarezguy]

I'm still waiting for the announcement that roles like the Black Panther and Luke Cage have been given to a white actor because he had superior acting ability and was better suited for the part.

A white actor did play the (partly) Hispanic character Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.
I prefer that the characters do look close to the comic book depiction (to the point of even disliking a little that non-blonde Chris Evans played Johnny Storm and Steve Rogers, although he was good as the former and OK as the latter) but the quality of the writing and acting are much more important.

 

[Venardhi]

They say "Bruce Wayne’s old money background pretty much means he needs to be a white guy"... is that really any different to the Storm's background of having a wealthy physician as a father (in fact, wasn't Bruce Wayne's dad also a physician)?

Yes. I'm sure there are plenty of wealthy black physicians, but I can't think of any African American families akin to, say, the Hiltons or the Rockefellers, which the Waynes were presumably modeled after. And if Johnny Storm is adopted, this isn't really an issue anyway, is it?

More importantly, the wealthy parents is part of Batman's origin story. It is a key component of who he is. Sue and Johnny's parents aren't even a blip on the radar in comparison.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I'm still waiting for the announcement that roles like the Black Panther and Luke Cage have been given to a white actor because he had superior acting ability and was better suited for the part.

A white actor did play the (partly) Hispanic character Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.
I prefer that the characters do look close to the comic book depiction (to the point of even disliking a little that non-blonde Chris Evans played Johnny Storm and Steve Rogers, although he was good as the former and OK as the latter) but the quality of the writing and acting are much more important.

Bane's father in the comics was British. Tom Hardy is British. Not seeing the problem.

Evans is a blond, just not a primary color yellow blond like you see in the comics.

 

[suarezguy]

I'm still waiting for the announcement that roles like the Black Panther and Luke Cage have been given to a white actor because he had superior acting ability and was better suited for the part.

A white actor did play the (partly) Hispanic character Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.
I prefer that the characters do look close to the comic book depiction (to the point of even disliking a little that non-blonde Chris Evans played Johnny Storm and Steve Rogers, although he was good as the former and OK as the latter) but the quality of the writing and acting are much more important.

Bane's father in the comics was British. Tom Hardy is British. Not seeing the problem.

Not a problem but a partial change-in a direction some consider to be unlikely.

 

[Turtletrekker]

OT-- Nothing to do with the current production, but rather the "lost" Roger Corman movie.

DOOMED: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s THE FANTASTIC FOUR will be a documentary chronicling the history of the first attempt to bring the FF to the big screen.

Having seen the original movie I will say two things-- I can understand why it was never released, and I still liked it better than the big-screen monstrosities that we got. I will check this out for sure.

 

[Nerys Myk]

A white actor did play the (partly) Hispanic character Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.
I prefer that the characters do look close to the comic book depiction (to the point of even disliking a little that non-blonde Chris Evans played Johnny Storm and Steve Rogers, although he was good as the former and OK as the latter) but the quality of the writing and acting are much more important.

Bane's father in the comics was British. Tom Hardy is British. Not seeing the problem.

Not a problem but a partial change-in a direction some consider to be unlikely.

Not sure what you mean. What is unlikely?

 

[TheSeeker]

OT-- Nothing to do with the current production, but rather the "lost" Roger Corman movie.

DOOMED: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s THE FANTASTIC FOUR will be a documentary chronicling the history of the first attempt to bring the FF to the big screen.

Having seen the original movie I will say two things-- I can understand why it was never released, and I still liked it better than the big-screen monstrosities that we got. I will check this out for sure.

I remember at the time of filming Bullpen Bulletins (I think) would always have updates on the production and I was really excited to see it but then it never materialized. To this day I still haven't seen it. Of course now we know it was just made to retain the film rights but I'm sure all will be revealed in the documentary. Should be interesting!

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

I remember Stan Lee writing about the Dolph Lundgren Punisher and Matt Salinger Captain America prior to their release as movies that were going to be spectacular.

To this day I still haven't seen it.

Th whole thing is on YouTube.

Of course now we know it was just made to retain the film rights but I'm sure all will be revealed in the documentary.

That was the rumor for years, but I think it turned out to be incorrect.

 

[gblews]

Having seen the original movie I will say two things-- I can understand why it was never released, and I still liked it better than the big-screen monstrosities that we got.

Seriously? The Corman movie was a piece of utter crap, IMO. I always assume that folks who say they like it better than the recent FF movies are simply registering their distaste for the Tim Story directed movies.

The Story FF movies weren't great super hero movies but if you focused on Johnny and the Thing you could get some enjoyment out of them. The Corman FF was insanely unwatchable.

 

[Dream]

I remember Stan Lee writing about the Dolph Lundgren Punisher and Matt Salinger Captain America prior to their release as movies that were going to be spectacular.

He is a Marvel cheerleader, of course he will be saying great things about them even if the movies turn out to be awful. I only hope he was happy when the actually GOOD movies started being released like X Men, Spider Man, Iron Man and Avengers.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

He is a Marvel cheerleader, of course he will be saying great things about them even if the movies turn out to be awful.

I know, but the level of his exuberance can still be amusing when the product is so lacking.

 

[Venardhi]

He is either one of the most enthusiastic people that ever lived, or a complete whore for a paycheck. I still haven't figured it out.