Trivia / The Fantastic Four

• Ashcan Copy: One of the more infamous examples, despite its overall obscurity. The film was made for Constantin Film to keep the movie rights to the Fantastic Four, and Marvel executive Avi Arad bought it for how much it took to produce since he was worried it would cheapen the brand. Once the film was done, Constantin decided to pay a visit to 20th Century Fox, who agreed to not only produce a bigger-budget adaptation of the comic book, but also agreed to share the rights with Constantin. Ironically, Fox themselves would be faced with a similar dilemma themselves and their embarrassment made it to theaters where it was soundly panned. After Fox was bought out by Disney, the movie rights for Fantastic Four finally reverted back to Marvel themselves, where an MCU movie is in the works.
• Bury Your Art: The film was completed and set for release in January 1994, only to be pulled and permanently shelved at the last minute, with cease and desist notices sent to the cast and crew to halt marketing. According to Stan Lee, the film was produced as an Ashcan Copy and thus was never meant to be released in the first place, but producer Roger Corman and director Oley Sassone contested this, stating that it was supposed to come out, only to be cancelled at the last minute due to executives at Marvel Comics fearing the possibility of the movie becoming a negative Audience-Coloring Adaptation. It should also be noted that Avi Arad, then-executive at Marvel and founder of Marvel Studios, agrees that it was always meant for theatrical distribution, and that Marvel only got cold feet over it near the end of production.
• Creator Backlash: One thing that continues to bother Joseph Culp is that his performance is often muffled by the mask he wore and that the production didn't have him come in and loop his lines no matter how many times he brought the audio issue up.
• Dawson Casting: Two examples.
  • Reed, Ben, and Victor are seen at the beginning of the film as college students. None of them are college age, and Victor's actor was nearly forty at the time of filming.
  • When we first see Johnny and Sue, they can't be any older than 12 considering the actors playing them. When we see them ten years later, they should be in their late teens/early 20's (they still live with their mother). The actor and actresses appear to be close to 30 years old.
• Disowned Adaptation:
  • And a rather quick example, as Avi Arad is reported to have bought the film, and once receiving the negatives burned them down.
  • Stan Lee was not impressed with the film even while it was in production, and when asked about it at a San Diego Comic Con appearance, he merely said "I don't think much about it." However, he did compliment Ben Grimm's actor as being "just as how he envisioned him".
• Doing It for the Art:
  • Despite their miniscule budget and tight filming schedule, the production team actually cared a lot for what they were making. The writer, director, producer and the cast tried to create the best film they could with what little they had to work with and were excited for it to be released. The cast even used their own money to hire a publicist and go to conventions and comic books stores to promote the movie. Unbeknownst to them though, the film would never properly see the light of day thanks to Executive Meddling.
  • Composers David and Eric Wurst paid $6000 dollars out of their own pocket (the fee they allegedly got for the music was less than a tenth of that) to hire a 48-piece orchestra to do the epic score they believed a superhero movie should have.
• Enforced Method Acting: Outside of a select few, the cast and crew genuinely believed they were making a film for public release. This meant they took the job seriously and did the best they could with the tight budget and short time they had.
• Executive Meddling: The executives of the Constantin Film Company had it out for the film since the beginning. The production was saddled with a shoestring budget and an incredibly short deadline, and in the end they didn't even care whether the film was released or not, since to them it was just an Ashcan Copy to help them keep the movie rights until they could sell them to Fox for a hefty sum.
• Flip-Flop of God: Whether this movie was truly an Ashcan Copy or was always meant to be a theatrical film that got cancelled at the last minute is very much dependent on who you ask. Even the highest ranking people within Marvel at the time have various disagreements on what the true plans for this film were.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: A 35mm film which cost $1.4M to make can only be seen on noisy second-generation VHS tape dubs burnt to DVD. (allegedly, once Marvel bought the rights back they burned the negatives)
• No Budget: It was made for $1.4M on a shooting schedule of just one month, as its only purpose was keeping the filming rights.^note The film was made on such a shoestring that they had one rickety old camera, shot on mismatched film stock, and didn't have video assist on set.
• Recycled Set: Dr. Doom's lair and the labs at the Baxter Building were recycled sets from Carnosaur.
• Star-Derailing Role: Everyone on the cast and crew not in the know about the film being an Ashcan Copy was excited to participate out of the belief that making it a success would provide a career boost. Unfortunately, the film was buried as deep as possible and the copy that leaked attracted ridicule for years meaning everyone took a large professional hit. It took decades for popular opinion turned favorable, by which time many of the people had left the entertainment industry altogether.
• Troubled Production: Being an Ashcan Copy that was rushed through, there were some issues.
  • Surprisingly, shooting in a condemned^note yes, the building was structurally unsound and deemed a fire risk by the fire marshal, rat-infested warehouse on cheap, recycled sets while using old equipment didn't do much to dampen spirits. In fact, it bonded the cast and crew together and made them more intent to do a good job.
  • The first inkling that something was amiss was when dailies and rough cuts stopped being screened for director Oley Sassone and editor Glenn Garland and post-production started languishing. Eventually, the two men started putting the film together in secret.
  • Although production was rushed, the shooting for Jonathan Culp's climactic scene as Doom kept being pushed back and Culp was brushed off whenever he asked when it would happen.
  • The film's first visual-effects artist was hired because he claimed to have been the VFX supervisor on Independence Day ^note A film that wouldn't be produced for another few years. Despite having lofty ambitions and owning lots of equipment, the work he did turn in was unacceptable and he eventually abandoned the project. This forced Sassone and Garland to find a substitute, who did the best job he could despite the time and budget restraints.
  • A couple of pick-up shots were required after principal production. Oley Sassone had to beg for a camera and a couple of rolls of film. A shot of the Thing walking across the street, meanwhile, was done guerilla style because there was no time or money to obtain permits.
• What Could Have Been:
  • One of the actors who auditioned for the role of Doctor Doom was a young, pre-MCU Mark Ruffalo. He was rejected in favor of Joseph Culp.
  • Renee Connor auditioned for Sue Storm, while Patrick Warburton auditioned for Ben Grimm.
  • The earlier drafts featured Mole Man as one of the main villains, but he was written out and replaced with the Jeweler due to rights issues.

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