Toby Kebbell on negative reaction to Fantastic Four: “The fans aren’t wrong”

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Toby Kebbell talked about the FANTASTIC FOUR’s critical and box office failures for the very first time during an interview with IGN, and instead of blaming fans or shitting on them for coming down hard on the reboot, the actor said he appreciated their honest reactions to the movie.

I was disappointed, but the fans aren’t wrong. The fans want what they want to see and if they don’t get satisfaction, they let you know. I appreciate that as a performer. My job is to come in and perform as best I can, and hopefully be directed in that path, and I felt like I was. I felt like the film was going to go well. It didn’t turn out that the fans felt that way, so their reaction is honest, I can only appreciate honesty.

Kebbell went on to say he didn’t really learn anything from playing Doctor Doom that could be used for future roles, while also kind of hinting at the well-documented behind-the-scenes drama that plague the production.

I don’t know if I learned anything from Doom apart from perhaps when I see something I don’t agree with, to voice that immediately. I think it’s important. As an actor, you’re conscious that your career is at stake with each job, especially on these larger productions. A film like that comes out, and I’m being sent maybe four scripts in a week, and those scripts go to zero when it doesn’t come out successful, so that actively affects my career. I think it’s vitally important that if there’s a problem on set, that it’s voiced and we solve it there and I think that collaboration is very important. Not to say that didn’t happen on set, but the collaboration is vital and if we don’t do that, then we suffer.

I certainly don’t blame Kebbell (or the rest of the cast, for that matter) for how FANTASTIC FOUR turned out, and it’s unfortunate that he might not be getting as many scripts to check out now because of the movie’s failures. It doesn’t sound like he regrets doing FF though, and since he’s a talented actor, I doubt the film will have a lasting negative impact on his career.

FANTASTIC FOUR will hit DVD and Blu-ray on December 15, 2015.