If rumors are to be believed, 20th Century Fox wants Joe Carnahan to direct the reboot of the lameduck “Fantastic Four” reboot led by producer/writer Akiva Goldsman (who’s sort of known as Satan in some comic book circles, most recently for helping ruin “Jonah Hex”). Or at least he’s on a wish list that includes several other directors.
However, just as we’re always carping on about, the studio’s wishes and reality aren’t always in the same time zone. Just because the studio wants someone to direct their project, it doesn’t mean that filmmaker is interested. Case in point, “Fantastic Four” probably wants to get its reboot’s pre-production moving forward, but Carnahan is still laser-focused on his wilderness survival drama, “The Grey.”
Last we heard Carnahan had nabbed “The Hangover” star Bradley Cooper for the role, but THR is now reporting that Liam Neeson has replaced him. No reason has been given, but Cooper was likely loosely attached and now that the project is moving forward, he’s presumably busy with other gigs (this is an on-the-rise star who almost scored the coveted “Green Lantern” gig).
And no offense to Liam Neeson fans — yes, we consider ourselves part of that group of people — but the recasting move can certainly be seen as a downgrade, at least Hollywood heat-wise. Yes, Neeson has the fluke, “Taken” under his belt, but pundits need to recognize that for what it was: a nice random hit when audiences were starved for something, anything (look, the February season isn’t the new money makers; please don’t bring up Martin Scorsese’s ‘ “Shutter Island” which would have made money in any season). Cooper is a hot casting commodity and is on the A-list short-list for every male lead project that comes up. Neeson does probably have more box-office recognition though, and your mom probably can at least recognize him in a crowd he’s been around for so long.
Neeson starred in Carnahan’s “A-Team” which stalled out at the box-office with only $77 million domestically (another $90-some million worldwide save its ass somewhat). “The Grey” centers on a group of survivors of a plane crash who are then hunted by an aggressive pack of wolves in Alaska. Carnahan previously specified, the film focused on, “a group of pipeline workers in Alaska flying back into civilization after being remote for a number of months. The 737 they’re on goes down, and they begin to be hunted by a pack of rogue wolves. It’s very much a man vs. nature adventure, existentialist kind of drama that I want to do.”