Miles Teller has spoken candidly about starring in the ill-fated 2015 film adaptation of Fantastic Four, telling Andy Cohen he already didn’t expect a warm reaction to the superhero reboot after seeing the final cut.
“When I first saw this movie, I remember talking to one of the studio heads and saying, ‘I think we’re in trouble,'” Teller said in an interview on Cohen’s SiriusXM talk show. Teller went on to explain the industry pressure he felt to star in superhero movies in his late 20s. The Top Gun: Maverick star hasn’t touched the genre since then.
“As a young actor at the time, it was like, ‘Okay, if I want to be taken seriously as a lead role, I have to get on this superhero train.’ That was our chance,” Teller said. “And I thought the casting was great. I love all the actors.”
Fantastic Four, starring Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell as the titular team, received harsh reviews upon its release. The film, directed by Josh Trank, grossed just $168 million worldwide on a production budget of $120 million. The Marvel characters were then put on ice for a decade, only to be revived last summer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe entry Fantastic 4: First Steps.
Speaking with Cohen, Teller seemed to blame one person for the project’s failure, but he did not name names in his own claims.
“It’s a shame because there were so many people working so hard on that movie, and to be honest, maybe there was one really important person who ruined everything,” Teller said.
Teller is currently promoting his upcoming film Eternity, in which he, Elizabeth Olsen and Callum Turner play a love triangle in the afterlife. A24 will release the film in theaters on November 26th.
