Simon Kinberg is a busy man. Not only is he serving as a writer and producer on the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises, but he’s also involved in Star Wars Episode VII and the planned spin-offs.
When HeyUGuys’ own Ben Mortimer managed to catch up with Kinberg at the UK premiere of X-Men: Days of Future Past earlier this week, he asked about the controversy surrounding the decision to cast African American actor Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch.
Only a very small handful of fans have reacted negatively to the decision to cast the Chronicle star, but they’ve been very vocal about what they see as an unnecessary race change to a character who has classically been portrayed as Caucasian in the Fantastic Four line of comic books.
“Josh Trank, the director of the movie, is approaching it from a very different place than the movies were approached before. It’s more of an emotion, grounded, dramatic movie. So, casting was very similar to the way we cast the X-Men movies, which is the best dramatic actor for the part. Josh’s vision for that movie is really clear and he cast somebody he thought was a really amazing dramatic actor, someone who I think is one of the greatest actors of his generation, in Michael B. Jordan.”
As for how he believes the change will impact The Human Torch, Kinberg added: “The race can deepen the character that’s already there, but it really was about wanting to cast who Josh believed was the best actor out there for the part.” It’s hard to argue with that point, and how exactly Jordan’s Johnny is related to Sue Storm (Kate Mara) should be very interesting, especially as Reg E. Cathey has been cast as their father.
When asked whether the decision to choose younger actors is an indication that The Fantastic Four is based off the Ultimate line of comics, Kinberg smiled, before stating: “I can’t really comment on the content of the movie, but the actors are not putting on make-up to play older versions of themselves.”
Oh, and those rumours about Adam Driver playing Han Solo’s son in Star Wars Episode VII? Unsurprisingly, the producer was giving nothing away, though his reaction may reveal…something! “I cannot comment on anything about Star Wars other than I’m very excited about it.”
To watch the full interview with Simon Kinberg, be sure to click here and read our X-Men Days of Future Past review here.
