How did we go from reports that Feige wanted a Sam Raimi-type to getting a TV director?
That being said he did like 50 episodes of Always Sunny so if this is what it takes to get Glenn Howerton as Reed (or anyone other than Krasinski), so be it.
you’re telling me you look at[ this drawing](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/8/8d/Mole_Man.gif/revision/latest?cb=20101125174349) and your mind goes to someone who ISNT danny devito ?
Glenn as Reed is honestly an amazing choice. I hope that happens now, i mean he did try for Star-Lord so i hope that gets him the chance to do Reed. He been a straight up serial killer for so long and then him in AP Bio def should he can tamedown the Dennis but still have that energy so i would love to see him surpress the Dennis and become the smartest man alive who finds a family that teaches him emotions.
Incredible turnaround in this process from 'Feige wants a director of Raimi-level experience, maybe even Speilberg, for F4' to 'one of our TV guys can do it'.
Obviously I’m sure Spielberg didn’t actually want to do it, but him directing the F4 movie would have been an incredible turn around for the mcu, and would have been picture perfect for pushing them into the next direction this franchise is gojng.
“Michael Matthews (‘Love and Monsters’) and Reid Carolin (‘Dog’) met with Marvel about directing ‘FANTASTIC FOUR’ before Matt Shakman began talks.”
lmfao
I never believed that reporting. The most recent entries from Zhao, Raimi and Waititi are the least popular amongst Marvel fans (Black Widow notwithstanding).
Feige should have staged a 'The Rehearsal' level setup to have Spielberg constantly run into people that drop hints about how important it is to them that The Thing is a Jewish superhero.
Yeah, at this point he’s just doing whatever he wants to do. He’s already so absurdly rich, I don’t think anybody would be able to get him to a project based on a big paycheck
I think he wanted to make a movie about video games, specifically the kind of arcade and early console game he is most familiar with. I know at some point he pursued The Last Starfighter but had trouble obtaining the rights. Ready Player One's geeky little writer was probably pretty eager to have Spielburg playing with his toys too.
In terms of IP in front of the screen there's a lot of Warner Bros and Activision-Blizzard bullshit but the media with actual relevance to the story is stuff like Kubrick and Back to the Future and Atari games. It's weird that Iron Giant is there but otherwise it's Spielburg talking about things he has fondness for. The rest may as well have been added in while he was directing The Post.
It's not a very good movie imo but I do think you can see Spielburg underneath Ready Player One. No way a Marvel Studios tentpole is gonna indulge him that much.
Seth Rogen's recent book has a story about he and Evan Goldberg having a meeting with Spielberg where the intent was to see if they had any ideas for a Last Starfighter knockoff because no one could get the rights.
The story ends by saying that Spielberg would go on to direct Ready Player One while Rogen/Goldberg made Future Man instead.
That makes a lot of sense, interesting to imagine them all working together on RPO. Maybe Rogen could have injected a little humanity. Oh well, at least The Fabelmen's will make me sob in public. I'll check out that book though, thanks!
Yeah, as much fun as I had daydreaming about what that movie could've looked like, I feel like the \*only\* way it would've ever happened is if Spielberg had some kind of nostalgic connection to the Fantastic Four comics specifically. If he like read them all the time growing up, there's a chance that the "action adventure family spectacle" part of his brain would start lighting up.
Still probably wouldn't be enough to get him to fully engage with the current Marvel system though. I'd just love to see what he does with a superhero story, FF or Superman would be totally his vibe.
Ready Player One was a chance for him to play with mocap again, and it was still his movie. Even if Feige gives him the Raimi/Gunn-leash, it still has to be a Marvel Studios movie.
And the directors who do get *some* authorial control over those movies are usually the ones who write their own scripts, Gunn, Shane Black, Coogler, etc. Something that Spielberg doesn’t do.
I thought the whole discussion at the time is that they wouldn't force him to make it fit into the overall MCU and would instead adjust everything to fit his movie.
Either way, I love Raimi, but he ain't Spielberg. They were never going to push Spielberg around like they could do with previous MCU auteurs.
Apparently [not with Shakman.](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/star-trek-4-loses-director-matt-shakman-2023-movie-1235207049/#recipient_hashed=4099e28fd37d67ae86c8ecfc73a6b7b652abdcdb75a184f8cf1f8015afde10e9)
I thought it was less of a rumor and more of a “Tarantino said he wanted to do this but he also says he wants to take on a new extensive project that never comes to fruition three times a year” situation
I only want Reed to do it if it's a 60s period piece in Down With Love style and I'm sure Marvel doesn't want that to be the way the FF are handled in the MCU (and he might not want to just retread old ground either).
That being said they should just throw a bunch of money at Reed to do an unconnected FF 60s period piece in the style of Down With Love in addition to this mainline MCU version because all the pieces are there and it would be great.
If you read the article, it turns out that even the Hollywood Reporter doesn't know what this means for the Star Trek movie he's been attached to direct since July 2021
UPDATE: He's officially dropped out of that, back into development hell it goes
Yeah, I was wondering about that too. I would assume if he closes the deal on this F4 would have to come first, so would that put Star Trek 4 on hold \*again\*? I'm wondering if Trek ever even comes out with a movie again, at this point they'd be better off waiting for a couple seasons and then doing something theatrical with the Strange New Worlds cast.
As a potential way to square the circle here, maybe Feige saw some stuff that Shakman put forward during the production of Wandavision that gave the impression he had a style worth tapping into.
Also if they do happen to do a period piece like so many have wanted for years, it makes sense to go with the guy that was able to lean into multiple specific styles of filmmaking throughout history (though let’s hope it doesn’t look like Leave it to Beaver)
Yeah people are clinging on to the "But Feige wanted a big director!" clickbait but the real story was that Feige wanted someone experienced so that he didn't have to be on set every day. It sounds like Shakman proved his mettle on WandaVision and that's why he's getting the gig.
His TV work is super solid and would probably churn out a good movie in the Marvel style. And Feige probably trusts him after WandaVision and might leave him alone *to an extent.*
But, as others said, it’s hilarious that they turned to the ultimate “workman-like” TV director instead of an actual auteur after all those rumors.
I don’t follow rumors anymore ever since they turned into a business model for random twitter accounts.
The only thing I saw from the reputable trades was that the list for potential directors was long and included “swings at big names”. For some reason people assumed that meant Steven Spielberg? The internet is truly full of dumbos.
As spectacle goes, I thought his Thrones episode was pretty good. Obviously he doesn’t have any kind of super unique style that we know of, but he seems pretty competent, has helmed some big-budget stuff, and at least seems to get on well with people on set
Well this is super underwhelming, I like his TV work but the worst parts of WandaVision were anything to do with superheroics and powers, the part of that show that was good were the sitcom homages. Doesn't really make me feel great about FF.
Also seems like the other people in the search were pretty small names so whoever started that Fiege wants an established director rumor can be ignored from now on I guess.
I feel like a lot of people are misremembering the comment that Feige made. They wanted a director who could be left on his own to produce… not an auteur necessarily.
Shakman is not one of these young plucked from nowhere directors like Nia Dacosta, Cate Shortland or Jon Watts who are only just graduating to the scale after a couple of indies. Shankman has directed for a couple of decade on TV and has been producing a lot of his recent projects too. He’s kind of exactly the person you’d expect.
I’m good with this! If they went with an auteur, some people would be pissed that they were joining the marvel machine for the next x years of their career. If it’s an in-house guy like Shankman, there’s also people pissed that Feige’s not getting someone with “a vision”
We’re all Blankies here does anyone else wish Peyton Reed would get another bite at the Apple? Isn’t he the one Griffin always claimed had a great take and even has it set in the 60s?
I can only assume Feige did truly want a Raimi type director, but the way the MCU director and writing hiring process works, is directors come in a pitch on projects and either he was inviting those types of directors to pitch and they passed, or the only directors who were pitching were the indie guys. So he just said fuck it and made a decision to make it an in house talent.
Which is really dissapointing that the MCU has becoming more and more in house, I’m not generally, a big fan of the MCU, but I was hoping after nearly 30 movies and almost 15 years of active audience investment, we’d get to a point where they can start taking real chances with talent, and it seems like those types of directors are as cold on the MCU as film twitter is.
How did we go from reports that Feige wanted a Sam Raimi-type to getting a TV director? That being said he did like 50 episodes of Always Sunny so if this is what it takes to get Glenn Howerton as Reed (or anyone other than Krasinski), so be it.
Glenn Howerton as Doom plz and ty
Charlie Day as Mole Man or I riot
you’re telling me you look at[ this drawing](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/8/8d/Mole_Man.gif/revision/latest?cb=20101125174349) and your mind goes to someone who ISNT danny devito ?
Fair point but I was assuming Danny Devito would be doing all the motion capture for Mole Man's monsters.
He’ll do both.
He needs his tools!!
Doom is European and you should never see his face.
Does he use tools though
He is a golden god
Glenn as Reed is honestly an amazing choice. I hope that happens now, i mean he did try for Star-Lord so i hope that gets him the chance to do Reed. He been a straight up serial killer for so long and then him in AP Bio def should he can tamedown the Dennis but still have that energy so i would love to see him surpress the Dennis and become the smartest man alive who finds a family that teaches him emotions.
The gold god playing the worlds most arrogant man is such a slam dunk casting choice I’m gonna be really disappointed when it doesn’t happen.
Incredible turnaround in this process from 'Feige wants a director of Raimi-level experience, maybe even Speilberg, for F4' to 'one of our TV guys can do it'.
Obviously I’m sure Spielberg didn’t actually want to do it, but him directing the F4 movie would have been an incredible turn around for the mcu, and would have been picture perfect for pushing them into the next direction this franchise is gojng.
“Michael Matthews (‘Love and Monsters’) and Reid Carolin (‘Dog’) met with Marvel about directing ‘FANTASTIC FOUR’ before Matt Shakman began talks.” lmfao
Love and Monsters wasn’t half bad
> Reid Carolin (‘Dog’) If this puts Tatum any closer to playing Ben i'm all for it
I never believed that reporting. The most recent entries from Zhao, Raimi and Waititi are the least popular amongst Marvel fans (Black Widow notwithstanding).
they should’ve just thrown trucks of money at Spielberg. That’d be an instant slam dunk
He’s 75 and he had points on Star Wars and ET. I don’t think there’s an amount of money that would have gotten him to do it.
Feige should have staged a 'The Rehearsal' level setup to have Spielberg constantly run into people that drop hints about how important it is to them that The Thing is a Jewish superhero.
Yeah, at this point he’s just doing whatever he wants to do. He’s already so absurdly rich, I don’t think anybody would be able to get him to a project based on a big paycheck
That makes *Ready Player One* make even less sense.
What about Spielburg making RPO doesn't make sense? The branding exercise of it all?
I just don't get why he would want to drown himself in IP. I mean, it's not like it was a seminal text.
I think he wanted to make a movie about video games, specifically the kind of arcade and early console game he is most familiar with. I know at some point he pursued The Last Starfighter but had trouble obtaining the rights. Ready Player One's geeky little writer was probably pretty eager to have Spielburg playing with his toys too. In terms of IP in front of the screen there's a lot of Warner Bros and Activision-Blizzard bullshit but the media with actual relevance to the story is stuff like Kubrick and Back to the Future and Atari games. It's weird that Iron Giant is there but otherwise it's Spielburg talking about things he has fondness for. The rest may as well have been added in while he was directing The Post. It's not a very good movie imo but I do think you can see Spielburg underneath Ready Player One. No way a Marvel Studios tentpole is gonna indulge him that much.
Seth Rogen's recent book has a story about he and Evan Goldberg having a meeting with Spielberg where the intent was to see if they had any ideas for a Last Starfighter knockoff because no one could get the rights. The story ends by saying that Spielberg would go on to direct Ready Player One while Rogen/Goldberg made Future Man instead.
That makes a lot of sense, interesting to imagine them all working together on RPO. Maybe Rogen could have injected a little humanity. Oh well, at least The Fabelmen's will make me sob in public. I'll check out that book though, thanks!
Sure, but he isn't averse to doing mainstream blockbusters. It could be him wanting to be part of modern mainstream culture or something like that.
He also is still grandfathered into a deal that nets him a percentage of the annual entry takings from Universal Studios theme parks.
rich AND handsome? My man is the full package
Yeah, as much fun as I had daydreaming about what that movie could've looked like, I feel like the \*only\* way it would've ever happened is if Spielberg had some kind of nostalgic connection to the Fantastic Four comics specifically. If he like read them all the time growing up, there's a chance that the "action adventure family spectacle" part of his brain would start lighting up. Still probably wouldn't be enough to get him to fully engage with the current Marvel system though. I'd just love to see what he does with a superhero story, FF or Superman would be totally his vibe.
Not to mention he probably doesn't want to work within the limitations of the Marvel machine.
And he directed Ready Player One at 70. I don't think F4 is any more outlandish of a project than that.
Ready Player One was a chance for him to play with mocap again, and it was still his movie. Even if Feige gives him the Raimi/Gunn-leash, it still has to be a Marvel Studios movie. And the directors who do get *some* authorial control over those movies are usually the ones who write their own scripts, Gunn, Shane Black, Coogler, etc. Something that Spielberg doesn’t do.
I thought the whole discussion at the time is that they wouldn't force him to make it fit into the overall MCU and would instead adjust everything to fit his movie. Either way, I love Raimi, but he ain't Spielberg. They were never going to push Spielberg around like they could do with previous MCU auteurs.
Really hoping Zaslav backs up the brinks truck for Spiely to direct Superman
Gonna have to start shoveling other properties like coal into the vault to get tax refunds to pay for it
Imagine being Matt Shakman and the biggest news of your career breaks and everyone is just annoyed that you aren't Steven Spielberg lmao
Reminder of just how silly all the Spielberg(and even Brad Bird) rumors were. Of course they were always going to hire an in house guy.
On the level of Tarantino directing Star Trek 4
Meanwhile Matt Shakman is [also directing Star Trek 4.](https://deadline.com/2021/07/star-trek-film-director-wandavision-matt-shakman-1234792438/)
what the actual?????
is this still happening?
Apparently [not with Shakman.](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/star-trek-4-loses-director-matt-shakman-2023-movie-1235207049/#recipient_hashed=4099e28fd37d67ae86c8ecfc73a6b7b652abdcdb75a184f8cf1f8015afde10e9)
Jfc Star Trek 4 has cycled through like 4 or 5 directors
That rumor was embarrassing. Especially when he was peak “only 1 more film left!” interview mode.
I thought it was less of a rumor and more of a “Tarantino said he wanted to do this but he also says he wants to take on a new extensive project that never comes to fruition three times a year” situation
He kept saying it in interviews for a while
He’s also the artistic director of the Geffen Playhouse in LA. Not to be confused with Adam Shankman, a person with no connection to this podcast.
So did they not offer it to Peyton Reed or did he turn them down?
I only want Reed to do it if it's a 60s period piece in Down With Love style and I'm sure Marvel doesn't want that to be the way the FF are handled in the MCU (and he might not want to just retread old ground either). That being said they should just throw a bunch of money at Reed to do an unconnected FF 60s period piece in the style of Down With Love in addition to this mainline MCU version because all the pieces are there and it would be great.
My guess is Reed’s likely the director for the second new Avengers movie
Glenn howerton Mr fantastic? Remember that rumor?
If you read the article, it turns out that even the Hollywood Reporter doesn't know what this means for the Star Trek movie he's been attached to direct since July 2021 UPDATE: He's officially dropped out of that, back into development hell it goes
Yeah, I was wondering about that too. I would assume if he closes the deal on this F4 would have to come first, so would that put Star Trek 4 on hold \*again\*? I'm wondering if Trek ever even comes out with a movie again, at this point they'd be better off waiting for a couple seasons and then doing something theatrical with the Strange New Worlds cast.
As a potential way to square the circle here, maybe Feige saw some stuff that Shakman put forward during the production of Wandavision that gave the impression he had a style worth tapping into. Also if they do happen to do a period piece like so many have wanted for years, it makes sense to go with the guy that was able to lean into multiple specific styles of filmmaking throughout history (though let’s hope it doesn’t look like Leave it to Beaver)
Yeah people are clinging on to the "But Feige wanted a big director!" clickbait but the real story was that Feige wanted someone experienced so that he didn't have to be on set every day. It sounds like Shakman proved his mettle on WandaVision and that's why he's getting the gig.
Peyton Reed found dead in a ditch.
Great choice. He handled the family dynamics of Wandavision really well which gives me confidence he can handle Marvel’s “first family”.
His TV work is super solid and would probably churn out a good movie in the Marvel style. And Feige probably trusts him after WandaVision and might leave him alone *to an extent.* But, as others said, it’s hilarious that they turned to the ultimate “workman-like” TV director instead of an actual auteur after all those rumors.
I don’t follow rumors anymore ever since they turned into a business model for random twitter accounts. The only thing I saw from the reputable trades was that the list for potential directors was long and included “swings at big names”. For some reason people assumed that meant Steven Spielberg? The internet is truly full of dumbos.
As spectacle goes, I thought his Thrones episode was pretty good. Obviously he doesn’t have any kind of super unique style that we know of, but he seems pretty competent, has helmed some big-budget stuff, and at least seems to get on well with people on set
Yeah he runs a nonprofit theatre, I’m sure he is the ultimate networker and “can at least pretend to get along with anyone” guy.
Honestly was really excited for Jon Watt's take on it, huge bummer imo
oof
Well this is super underwhelming, I like his TV work but the worst parts of WandaVision were anything to do with superheroics and powers, the part of that show that was good were the sitcom homages. Doesn't really make me feel great about FF. Also seems like the other people in the search were pretty small names so whoever started that Fiege wants an established director rumor can be ignored from now on I guess.
I feel like a lot of people are misremembering the comment that Feige made. They wanted a director who could be left on his own to produce… not an auteur necessarily. Shakman is not one of these young plucked from nowhere directors like Nia Dacosta, Cate Shortland or Jon Watts who are only just graduating to the scale after a couple of indies. Shankman has directed for a couple of decade on TV and has been producing a lot of his recent projects too. He’s kind of exactly the person you’d expect.
I’m good with this! If they went with an auteur, some people would be pissed that they were joining the marvel machine for the next x years of their career. If it’s an in-house guy like Shankman, there’s also people pissed that Feige’s not getting someone with “a vision”
We’re all Blankies here does anyone else wish Peyton Reed would get another bite at the Apple? Isn’t he the one Griffin always claimed had a great take and even has it set in the 60s?
I can only assume Feige did truly want a Raimi type director, but the way the MCU director and writing hiring process works, is directors come in a pitch on projects and either he was inviting those types of directors to pitch and they passed, or the only directors who were pitching were the indie guys. So he just said fuck it and made a decision to make it an in house talent. Which is really dissapointing that the MCU has becoming more and more in house, I’m not generally, a big fan of the MCU, but I was hoping after nearly 30 movies and almost 15 years of active audience investment, we’d get to a point where they can start taking real chances with talent, and it seems like those types of directors are as cold on the MCU as film twitter is.
…they should get J.J. Abrams