Studio Exec Who Called You Racist For Not Liking ‘Fantastic Four’ Refused to Make Invisible Girl Black

If you remember when 2015’s Fantastic Four was being marketed, there were some objections to Michael B Jordan being cast as the Human Torch, a traditionally white character previously played by Chris Evans, objections such as “Why is he black and his sister isn’t?” or “This movie is terrible regardless of the races of the cast, I want my $12 back.”

Now, writer-Director Josh Trank says that he pushed for the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch’s sister, to be black as well but was met with resistance from the studio.

Via Entertainment Weekly:

“There were a lot of controversial conversations that were had behind the scenes on that. I was mostly interested in a black Sue Storm, a black Johnny Storm, and a black Franklin Storm,” Trank says. “But when you’re dealing with a studio on a massive movie like that, everybody wants to keep an open mind to who the big stars are going to be….When it came down to it, I found a lot of pretty heavy pushback on casting a black woman in that role.”

Trank expressed regret that he did not stand up to the studio on the casting issue. “When I look back on that, I should have just walked when that realization hit me, and I feel embarrassed about that, that I didn’t just out of principle,” he said. “Because those aren’t the values I stand for in my own life, and those weren’t the values then or ever for me. Because I’m somebody who always talks about standing up for what I believe in, even if it means burning my career out, and I feel bad that I didn’t take it to the mat with that issue. I feel like I failed in that regard.”

There’s a lot of speculation about why the studio was so adamant the Sue Storm be white despite casting a black actor as Johnny Storm with no explanation as to why the siblings are different races, but I’m pretty sure I know the reason; Sue Storm is the girlfriend and eventually wife of Mr. Fantastic and the studio didn’t want an interracial couple at the center of what was supposed to be a tentpole film.

The problem, however, is that the studio seemed to be behind a guerrilla marketing campaign calling anyone who didn’t want to see it a racist because they cast a black actor in it, much like the marketing of other terrible movies like 2016’s Ghostbusters or Captain Marvel. Yeah, the racist shoe is on the other foot now, isn’t it, giant movie studio who pretends to care about social issues to improve your public reputation?