Josh Trank Leaves 'Star Wars' Spinoff

Fan speculation about his 'Celebration' absence proves correct.

Story Matt Cummings

Just one year after he was announced to direct an as-of-yet Star Wars spinoff movie (the first belonging to Gareth Edwards' Rogue One), Director Josh Trank (Chronicle and Fantastic Four reboot) has departed the project. The announcement was made on Friday by Trank, who had this to say:

"After a year of having the incredible honor of developing with the wonderful and talented people at Lucasfilm, I’m making a personal decision to move forward on a different path. I’ve put a tremendous amount of thought into this, and I know deep down in my heart that I want to pursue some original creative opportunities. That said, the Star Wars universe has always been one of my biggest influences, and I couldn’t be more excited to witness its future alongside my millions of fellow Star Wars fans. I want to thank my friends Kathleen Kennedy, Kiri Hart, Simon Kinberg, and everyone at Lucasfilm and Disney for the amazing opportunity to have been a part of this. May the Force be with you all."

But until recently, no one outside of the project knew there was a problem. Then Star Wars Celebration arrived one week ago, and Trank was not in attendance, citing illness as the reason. In retrospect, the signs for his departure seemed to be there. But, according to numerous sites including THR, the problems were much deeper, which centered around frequent clashes with studio heads regarding the path of the film in relation to the bigger, connected Star Wars universe. There is also rumors that Trank's re-shooting of Fantastic Four may have also contributed. Producers on that project even claimed that the 30 year-old's behavior was “erratic” and at points “very isolated.” Fellow collaborator Simon Kinberg and Hutch Parker were said to be very involved in that process, so much so that some had claimed Trank could have gotten in trouble from the Directors Guild of America for not actually being more involved.

It's clear that Trank has talent, especially when watching his breakout hit Chronicle. But that was 2012, and since then he's been wrapped up in controversy with Fantastic Four and now this project.

That's not the case with Edwards' Rogue One: it's hitting a critical point in its development, as both Felicity Jones and Hunger Games' Sam Claflin have been cast. In addition, conceptual images were released at Celebration that suggest the movie was more of a war epic than a struggle between Jedi. With some of these benchmarks already in place, Rogue One seems to be in good hands. Trank's former project, not so much. As for Fantastic Four, expect that August 2015 film to become a greater lightning bolt of controversy as we get closer to its premiere.

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