Joshua Benjamin Trank (born February 19, 1984)[1][2] is an American film director, screenwriter, and film editor. He is known for directing the found-footage sci-fi thriller filmChronicle (2012), the superhero filmFantastic Four (2015), and theAl Capone biographical filmCapone (2020).
Josh Trank was born inLos Angeles to school teacher Pamela Trank and documentary filmmaker Richard Trank. His father produced the Academy Award winning documentaryThe Long Way Home.[3] Trank also has a younger sister and isJewish. 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 comedianJudy Toll, who later died from skin cancer. He was initially uncomfortable with her, but they ultimately bonded when Toll pushed him into entertainment when she invited him to perform withThe Groundlings. "[The] experience, changed me...I think about her still, like, every day, and I miss her tremendously."[4] In 2002, Trank graduated fromBeverly Hills High School.
In 2020, he revealed that he had been sexually abused several times when he was between five and six years old, which later in life gave him problems like anger issues, before he began therapy.[5]
During an interview withKevin Smith on the podcastFatman 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,[citation needed] as a significant breakthrough point for his career. Following this, Trank wrote and directed spin-off webisodes for the 2007Spike TVdrama miniseriesThe Kill Point. In 2009, Trank edited the independent filmBig Fan, starringPatton 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.[6] It was released on February 3, 2012, by20th Century Fox and grossed over $125 million worldwide.[7]Chronicle, made for a budget of $12 million, was received positively by critics, earning an 85% score on Rotten Tomatoes.[8] With the release ofChronicle, Trank became the youngest director to open a film at number one at the US box office, at age 27.[9] He is followed bySteven Spielberg (28, withJaws) andJames Cameron (30, withThe Terminator).[10] After the release ofChronicle, Trank was linked toSony'sSpider-Man spin-offVenom,[11]Warner Bros.'sThe Red Star,[12] and Sony's film adaptation of the video gameShadow of the Colossus;[13] however, Trank turned down those film projects, despite turning in a pitch of aR-rated film of Venom in the vein ofThe Mask that he wrote with his mentorRobert D. Siegel.[14][15][16]
Trank directed the 2015reboot ofFantastic Four,[17][18] which was released in August 2015. The filmflopped at the box office and was critically panned; it received a 9% rating onRotten Tomatoes[19] and a 27 out of 100 rating fromMetacritic.[20] Trank became the subject of controversy when he posted and quickly deleted a message on Twitter prior to the release of the film, 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.[21] Equally dissatisfied with the final film, actorToby Kebbell, who worked with Trank on the film, supported Trank's claim.[22] However, in early 2020, Trank admitted that there were several scenes he was unable to film, making adirector's cut highly improbable.[4]
In June 2014, it was announced that Trank would direct a stand-aloneStar Wars film aboutBoba Fett,[23][24] 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 ofFantastic Four, primarily a lack of communication with the film's producers, and thatLucasfilm had decided to pursue another director.[25] Trank told theLos 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 ofFantastic Four.[26]
In 2020, following a five-year hiatus from directing, Trank wrote and directed his originalAl Capone biopicCapone, withTom Hardy starring.[27] It was released throughvideo on demand on May 12, 2020,[28] receiving mixed reviews from critics.[29]
In May 2020, it was announced that Trank was developing a television series about theCIA, with Hardy starring.[30]
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".[32]
In early October 2013, he married screenwriter Krystin Ver Linden; they divorced in 2017.[4] He deleted hisTwitter andInstagram accounts in June 2020.[33]
^According to someoneCalifornia Birth Index, 1905–1995. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California.Familytreelegends.comArchived September 6, 2014, at theWayback Machine
