Josh Trank

Joshua Benjamin Trank (born February 19, 1984)[1][2] is an American film director, screenwriter, and editor. He is known for directing the found-footage sci-fi thriller film Chronicle (2012), the superhero film Fantastic Four (2015), and the Al Capone biographical film Capone (2020).

Josh Trank
Born
Joshua Benjamin Trank

(1984-02-19) February 19, 1984
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationFilm director, screenwriter, film editor
Years active2007–present
Spouse(s)
Krystin Ver Linden
​
​
(m. 2013; div. 2017)​

Early life

Josh Trank was born in Los Angeles to school teacher Pamela Trank and filmmaker Richard Trank. He also has a younger sister. He spent much of his childhood scanning Hollywood and enjoying the sights it had to offer. When Trank was 13, his parents divorced and later his father remarried to comedian Judy Toll who would later die from skin cancer. He was initially uncomfortable with her, but they ultimately bonded when Toll pushed him into entertainment when she would invite him to perform with The Groundlings. "[The] experience, changed me...I think about her still, like, every day, and I miss her tremendously."[3]

Career

During an interview with Kevin Smith on the podcast Fatman on Batman, Trank discussed the origins of his career at length. He attributed his YouTube video "Stabbing at Leia's 22nd Birthday", which became very popular overnight after its release, as a significant breakthrough point for his career. Following this, Trank wrote and directed spin-off webisodes for the 2007 Spike TV drama miniseries The Kill Point. In 2009, Trank edited the independent film Big Fan, starring Patton Oswalt. He was also credited as a co-producer and had a small acting role in the film.

In 2011, Trank directed his first feature film, Chronicle.[4] It was released on February 3, 2012 by 20th Century Fox and has grossed over $125 million worldwide.[5] Chronicle, made for a budget of $12 million, was received positively by critics, earning an 85% score on Rotten Tomatoes.[6] With Chronicle released at the age of 27, Trank became the youngest director to open a film at number one at the US box office.[7] He is followed by Steven Spielberg (28, with Jaws) and James Cameron (30, with The Terminator).[8] After the release of Chronicle, Trank was linked to Sony's Spider-Man spin-off Venom,[9] Warner Bros.'s The Red Star,[10] and Sony's film adaptation of the video game Shadow of the Colossus;[11] however, Trank turned down those film projects, despite turning in a pitch of a R-rated film of Venom in the vein of The Mask that he wrote with his mentor Robert D. Siegel. [12][13][14]

Trank directed the 2015 reboot of Fantastic Four,[15][16] which was released in August 2015. The film flopped at the box office and was critically panned; it received a 9% rating on Rotten Tomatoes[17] and a 27 out of 100 rating from Metacritic.[18] Trank became the subject of controversy when he posted and quickly deleted a message on Twitter prior to the release of the film before, apparently blaming the poor reviews on changes imposed by the studio, claiming to have originally cut a completely different film which would have been much better.[19] Equally dissatisfied with the final film, actor Toby Kebbell, who worked with Trank on the film, supported Trank's claim.[20] However, in early 2020, Trank admitted that there were several scenes he was unable to film, making a director's cut highly improbable.[3]

In June 2014, it was announced that Trank would direct a stand-alone Star Wars film,[21] but he left the project less than a year later. Trank indicated this was a personal decision, but several outlets stated that he was dismissed from the project due to issues during production of Fantastic Four, primarily a lack of communication with the film's producers, and that Lucasfilm had decided to pursue another director.[22] Trank told the Los Angeles Times in an interview that the reason he left the film was because he wanted to do something original and smaller-scale, due to the amount of online scrutiny he received during the filming of Fantastic Four.[23]

In 2020, following a five year hiatus from directing, Trank wrote and directed his original Al Capone biopic Capone, with Tom Hardy starring.[24] It was released through video on demand on May 12, 2020,[25] receiving mixed reviews from critics.[26]

On May 2020, it was announced that Trank was developing a television series about the CIA, with Hardy starring.[27]

Style

Trank has mentioned that he is interested in a deconstruction approach in his movies; "the deconstruction of myth, the deconstruction of iconic figures, the deconstruction of mythic ideas".[28]

Personal life

Trank was born in Los Angeles and is a 2002 graduate of Beverly Hills High School. In early October 2013, he married screenwriter Krystin Ver Linden; they divorced in 2017. His father, Richard Trank, is a documentary filmmaker and Academy Award winner.[29][30] He deleted his Twitter account in June 2020.[31]

Filmography
Year Title Director Writer Notes
2012 Chronicle Yes Story
2015 Fantastic Four Yes Yes
2020 Capone Yes Yes Also editor

Acting credits
Year Title Role Notes
2009 Big Fan Wrong Phil’s Buddy
2013 Arrested Development Process Server Bum Episode "A New Start"
2020 Capone Agent Harris

Other credits
Year Title Role
2009 Big Fan Co-producer and editor
2011 The Lie Second unit director

Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Work Result
2013 Online Film & Television Association Best Feature Debut Chronicle Nominated
2016 Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Director Fantastic Four Won
Worst Screenplay
Shared with Simon Kinberg & Jeremy Slater		 Nominated

References
  1. According to someone California Birth Index, 1905–1995. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. Familytreelegends.com Archived September 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "'Chronicle' the No. 1 movie after a big viral push". Chicago Sun-Times. February 5, 2012. Archived from the original on February 9, 2012. Retrieved February 9, 2012.
  3. Patches, Matt (May 5, 2020). "The post-disaster artist". Polygon. Archived from the original on May 5, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  4. "Q&A: Josh Trank, Director Of 'Chronicle' On The Origins of the Film, And More". Starpulse.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2012. Retrieved February 1, 2012.
  5. "Chronicle's Box office". Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  6. "Chronicle on Rotten Tomatoes (2012)". Archived from the original on May 31, 2020. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  7. Gant, Charles (February 7, 2012). "Chronicle makes a new UK box office record". The Guardian. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  8. "Weekend Box Office (February 3–5, 2012)". Boxofficeguru.com. Archived from the original on February 5, 2012. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
  9. "Chronicle's Josh Trank Looks to Spit Some Venom". latimes.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  10. Fleming, Mike. "'Chronicle' Helmer Josh Trank Lands On 'The Red Star' At Warner Bros". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  11. "Chronicle Director to Make Shadow of The Colossus Movie". IGN.com. Archived from the original on May 25, 2012. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
  12. Patten, Dominic (December 13, 2013). "Sony Sets Spider-Man Spinoffs 'Venom,' 'Sinister Six' With New "Franchise Brain Trust"". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 15, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  13. Kroll, Justin (September 4, 2014). "Andrés Muschietti to Direct 'Shadow of the Colossus' Adaptation for Sony". Variety. Archived from the original on September 8, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  14. Wilding, Josh (September 4, 2014). "Mama Director Andrés Muschietti to Helm Video Game Adaptation Shadow of the Colossus". HeyUGuys. Archived from the original on September 6, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  15. "Comic-Con: Fox Sets Reboots Of 'Fantastic Four', 'Daredevil' (Minus David Slade), Puts Joe Cornish On 'Rust'". Deadline Hollywood. July 11, 2012. Archived from the original on September 6, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
  16. "Screenrant". Screenrant. February 27, 2014. Archived from the original on November 14, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  17. "Fantastic Four (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on September 1, 2015. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  18. "Fantastic Four". Metacritic. Archived from the original on August 18, 2015. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  19. Breznican, Anthony (August 7, 2015). "Why did Fantastic Four director Josh Trank slam his own movie? Honesty comes with a high price in Hollywood ... but what is the truth?". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 23, 2020. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  20. Scott, Ryan. "Fantastic Four Actor Says There's a Great Cut We'll Never See". Movieweb. Archived from the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  21. Graser, Marc (June 4, 2014). "Josh Trank to Direct 'Star Wars' Standalone Movie". Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  22. "Inside a 'Star Wars' Firing: 'Fantastic Four' Problems Led to Director Josh Trank's Ouster". Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  23. Rottenberg, Josh (June 4, 2015). "Josh Trank sets the story straight on why he left 'Star Wars'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 14, 2020. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  24. McNary, Dave (October 29, 2016). "AFM: Tom Hardy to Star as Al Capone in 'Fonzo'". Variety. Archived from the original on April 1, 2018. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  25. Sharf, Zack (April 15, 2020). "'Capone' Trailer: Tom Hardy and Josh Trank's 'Fonzo' Gets New Title and First Footage". IndieWire. Archived from the original on April 23, 2020. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  26. "Capone (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on May 13, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  27. Chitwood, Adam (May 14, 2020). "Josh Trank Says He's Developing a Limited Series About the CIA for Tom Hardy". Collider. Archived from the original on June 23, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  28. Vinney, Cynthia (May 12, 2020). "Josh Trank Discusses Capone, and Fantastic Four's Failure". CBR. Archived from the original on June 11, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  29. Richard Trank,
  30. Reed, Becky (February 12, 2012). "Q&a: Chronicle Director Josh Trank". DIY. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  31. "Josh Trank Gives Final Word on Fantastic Four, Deletes Social Media Accounts". CBR. June 27, 2020. Archived from the original on September 7, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
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