Fantastic Four director Josh Trank has quit social media following online harassment over his latest film Capone. After his critically-acclaimed debut film Chronicle, Trank seemed poised to become one of the hottest directors in Hollywood. He was soon attached to the Star Wars Boba Fett spin-off, and Fox hired him to direct their latest Fantastic Four reboot. However, Fantastic Four's production was beset by numerous issues, from studio-enforced reshoots to the backlash from Trank's own casting decisions. Fantastic Four was hit with extremely negative reviews upon its release and under-performed at the box office. Trank has been open about how the process behind Fantastic Four negatively affected him and has even distanced himself from the film.
Trank remained inactive for several years following Fantastic Four, but just last month he sought to make his big comeback with Capone. The biopic starred Tom Hardy and focused on notorious gangster Al Capone in the final stage of his life. Trank was far more positive about this effort than he was about Fantastic Four, but Capone also suffered mixed reviews when it was released on VOD in early May. Some appreciated the outrageous elements Trank put into the film, while others weren't as impressed.
Social media user Dr. Sizzle noticed Trank recently deleted his Instagram and Twitter following online trolls harassing him about Capone and Fantastic Four. Ahead of his deletion, Trank began to respond to some of the trolls with equally passionate comebacks. When one user wrote "How egotistical and pretentious can a director be? Answer: Josh Trank," Trank replied with "Say it to my face. I'll knock you the f*ck out." In his final post, Trank stood by Capone, affirmed that "Black Lives Matter," and told people to "Accomplish something interesting w/ your lives."
Trank sadly is no stranger to harassment over his projects. When he cast Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four, there was online backlash from trolls who took issue with the casting of a Black actor in a traditionally white role. Trank has said he actually bought a gun as a result of this response because he feared for his safety.
While it's perfectly acceptable to dislike someone's work, there's no reason to outright attack them for it. No director deserves to be harassed simply because they made some poorly-received films. Unfortunately, Trank is far from the only celebrity to be driven off social media because of online trolls, and he likely won't be the last. Whether Trank will continue to direct after this remains to be seen, but hopefully he won't let the responses to Fantastic Four and Capone deter him from trying again.
Source: Dr. Sizzle/Twitter