Yahoo Finance Emily Blunt Shuts Down ‘Fantastic Four’ Casting Rumors: ‘I Don’t Know if Superhero Movies Are for Me’
Ever since Disney purchased 20th Century Fox and paved the way for a new “Fantastic Four” film from Marvel Studios, fans have been infatuated with the idea of real-life couple John Krasinski and Emily Blunt taking on the roles of super-powered couple Mr. Fantastic (a.k.a. Reed Richards) and the Invisible Woman (a.k.a. Sue Storm).
Well, that flaming-hot fan theory may have just been extinguished. Blunt, who recently appeared on “The Howard Stern Show” to promote “A Quiet Place Part II,” was asked by the longtime radio host if she was going to appear as the titular comic book character.
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“That is fan-casting,” Blunt said. “No one has received a phone call. That’s just people saying, ‘Wouldn’t that be great?’”
Blunt said she doesn’t believe that superhero movies are “beneath her” — in fact, she said in another interview with Entertainment Weekly that it “irked her heart” when she had to pass on the opportunity to play Black Widow in “Iron Man 2” due to a contractual obligation to star in “Gulliver’s Travels.” Despite this, she hasn’t “found something that really speaks to” her in the superhero genre.
“I was obsessed with Iron Man,” Blunt told Stern. “I wanted to work with Robert Downey Jr. It would’ve been amazing. But I don’t know if superhero movies are for me. They’re not up my alley. I don’t like them. I really don’t.”
Before the Disney acquisition, Fox released two “Fantastic Four” movies in the 2000s starring Jessica Alba as Sue Storm and Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards. In 2015, Fox attempted to reboot the franchise with Kate Mara and Miles Teller, but the film flopped.
While Blunt has headlined other sci-fi films like “Looper” and “The Edge of Tomorrow,” she believes that the superhero movie genre has been “exhausted.”
“We are inundated — it’s not only all the movies, it’s the endless TV shows as well,” Blunt said. “It’s not to say that I’d never want to play one, it would just have to be something so cool and a really cool character, and then I’d be interested.”
Krasinski had a much more upbeat response to the “Fantastic Four” casting rumors during an interview with Men’s Health last year.
“I love those movies because they’re fun, but I also think they’re really well done,” Krasinski said. “I have no idea what [Marvel executives] are thinking. But if they are considering me for Mr. Fantastic, continue to consider me because I would love it.”
Whether Blunt and Krasinski are involved or not, Marvel Studios is charging forward with a new “Fantastic Four” film. Jon Watts, who will close out Tom Holland’s “Spider-Man” trilogy this December, will direct the undated film. A recent Marvel Studios video included the “Fantastic Four” logo at the end of its currently announced slate — hinting at the possibility that the reboot could hit theaters in 2023 or beyond.
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