The latest of upcoming Marvel movies is just a week away, and that means we’ll finally get to see the sprawling cast of Fantastic Four: First Steps… minus one. Despite there being a tease for John Malkovich’s role in the MCU movie in the first teaser trailer for the blockbuster, the movie’s director has revealed the Oscar winner has been cut from Fantastic Four. And, as you might imagine, the decision wasn’t made without some anguish from the filmmaker.
John Malkovich Has Been Cut From Fantastic Four: First Steps
In a Variety interview, director Matt Shakman shared that John Malkovich will not have his MCU debut when the Fantastic Four release date happens next week. The actor was apparently going to play the role of Red Ghost, who is an early adversary of the team in Marvel Comics who has the ability to phase through solid objects after an experiment gone wrong in space. As Shakman explained,
There were a lot of things that ultimately ended up hitting the cutting room floor. When we were building a ’60s retro-future world, introducing all of these villains, introducing these four main characters as a group, as well as individually, introducing the idea of a child — there was a lot of stuff to balance in this movie and some things had to go ultimately in terms of shaping the film for its final version.
Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is reportedly has a runtime a few minutes under two hours, will introduce the beloved team of superheroes to the MCU through the studio’s unique retro-futuristic vision we haven’t seen before from the franchise. However, as Shakman shared, all the ideas they had for the world just weren’t able to ultimately fit in the theatrical cut.
But it cannot be an easy decision to cut John Malkovich from your movie, and as Shakman shared, it wasn’t. He recalled the actor was “brilliant” in the role of Red Ghost, and “gave it his all.” Perhaps, we’ll get to see Malkovich’s work once the bonus features come out?
The Personal Reason Why The Decision Was Particularly Hard For The Fantastic Four Director
Matt Shakman cast John Malkovich after the filmmaker previously worked with the actor back in the first movie he ever directed, 2014’s Cut Bank. As such, it was particularly difficult for him to not have Malkovich in the movie. As he continued in the new interview:
It was heartbreaking not to include him in the final version of the movie because he’s one of my very favorite humans and one of my biggest inspirations. As a person who walks the line between theater and film and television, there’s no one who is more inspiring than the founder of Steppenwolf Theater Company. What he’s done on stage as an actor and what he’s done as a director in theater as well as in film, and as just a film actor of incredible ability — I was honored he came to play.
John Malkovich spoke about joining the MCU back in February before he was cut from the movie. The actor recalled having a “fun” experience on the set even though he found it to be “quite odd” to make a movie with a set consisting of “giant screens and 18 epic cranes”. The 71-year-old also said Fantastic Four was the first time he’d joined the franchise because he didn’t like the “deals they made” to him before.
It’s too bad this tough decision was made, but given Malkovich’s role could perhaps have a chance in a sequel? You can see Fantastic Four: First Steps in theaters on Friday, July 25.
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