Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings) has revealed that he was in the running to direct Fantastic Four (2005) and had his sights set on the role of Sue Storm being played by the soulful singer, Christina Aguilera.
When the comic book universe was limited to the cheese-fest of films that hold an element of nostalgia to them such as Batman Begins and the Raimi Spiderman series, 20th Century Fox made a landmark decision to create the first big-budget superhero movie and they opted for the Fantastic Four to be their first set of superheroes. While the film made enough money to create a second (Fantastic Four: Silver Surfer), the success was short-lived as the critics started pouring in.
It was around this blueprint time for the original Fantastic Four that Astin had finished the Lord of the Rings franchise and was looking for something to try his hand at. Although acting was where the money rolled in for him, he said that his heart was in directing. He created The Long and Short of It but it didn’t come to much more than an extra on the Lord of the Rings DVDs.
However, he stated that he came so close to being the director of the superhero movie that he sat in Rupert Murdoch’s with the script and showcased his ideas. Not that these seemed to be well-received as they eventually chose Tim Story to lead the project.
But not all hope is lost as it is inevitable that Marvel will try their hand (again) at making the Fantastic Four a ‘thing’ (get it?) and Sean Astin could have his second chance at directing his dream.
