Chris Columbus reveals why he was fired from ‘Fantastic Four’
Director Chris Columbus has revealed that he was attached to the 2005 film adaptation of Marvel’s Fantastic Four before being let go from the project.
The filmmaker, behind the likes of Home Alone, The Thursday Murder Club and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, spoke with the Fade to Black podcast about his previous projects. The conversation turned to Fantastic Four, for which he is listed as an executive producer.
However, Columbus revealed he had no real involvement in the final product. This was because he was abruptly fired from the film.
He shared, “We were in a weird situation. On the first Fantastic Four, I had worked on a script. There were a lot of writers involved. They were about to make a movie and I was producing it.”
Columbus continued, “I met with the director and had some ideas. I basically said, ‘Some of this conceptual art should feel more like Jack Kirby, the creator of the Fantastic Four, and should feel more like the Silver Age of Marvel.'”
And just like that, things shifted. Columbus shared, “I left that meeting and on the way back from my house I got a call from the head of 20th Century Fox saying I was fired and had too much of an opinion.”
In the end, the film was directed by Tim Story, who also directed 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and it made a decent $333 million worldwide at the box office.
Despite this, Columbus has had a successful career. His next project, The Thursday Murder Club, will launch on Netflix on August 28th. The film is based on Richard Osman’s international bestselling novel and follows four irrepressible retirees: Elizabeth (Helen Mirren), Ron (Pierce Brosnan), Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley) and Joyce (Celia Imrie).
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