Director Jon Watts opens up why he left Marvel’s Fantastic Four Project

Jon Watts It is not foreign to the big swings in the Marvel cinema universe. He directed all three Tom Holland’S Spider-man films, culminating with No way homeA global Juggernaut that brought together multiple generations of Spider-Man and has almost hit the sign of $ 2 billion.

So when Marvel touched him to restart Fantastic FouIt made sense. But a few months before the pre-production would move, Watts moved silently and now we know why.

While spoken to the Mediterrane Film Festival, Watts finally opened on the real reason why he abandoned. It was not because of the creative differences or a programming conflict. It was the burnout, in particular, the type caused by trying to do No way home During the peak pandemic chaos.

Watts explained:

“The emotional tension of having to go through all those Covid protocols, also trying to make something creative, also trying to make sure that your cast and troupe were all safe – literally, people could have died if I had hurt – that and the postproduction process were very difficult.

“When you do it [visual effects work]There is an entire international component in which you are using sellers from all over the world and the supply chain had been interrupted due to Covid. It was really difficult to get the effects in a traditional way. “

Making a Marvel movie is already like driving a freight train through a needle, but doing it under rigid health guidelines, is a different beast. AND No way home It was not just another sequel, it was a multival event with a temptular cast, a glove of visual effects and a story that was to land emotionally through three separate franchises.

So when Marvel returned to call again, Watts had to take stock of where he was mentally and creatively.

“I am out of the gas. The Covido layer on top of creating a layer of giant films, I knew I didn’t have what he would take to make that movie exceptional. I was only outside the steam, so I just needed to take some time to recover.

“Everyone to Marvel totally understood. They also passed on with me, so they knew how hard and emptying that experience was; in the end, very satisfactory, but at a certain point, if you cannot do it at the level you feel like if it were fantastic, then it is better not to do it.”

The pressure to always jump to the next great thing, especially when it is something as heavy as a Fantastic Four, can be overwhelming. Watts gave priority to his mental and creative health for the momentum, which I can respect and appreciate.

Since he moved away, Watts worked on Star Wars series Skeleton crew. In the meantime, Matt Shakman (Wandavision) took the reins Fantastic Four: first stepswho will finally arrive in cinemas on July 25th. Watts says that watching the film from the outside will be a “totally surreal experience”.

He will not even return for the next Spider-Man like New mint dayexpected in 2026, it will be directed by Shang-chi‘S Destin Daniel CrettonBut recently, he wrote and produced Final destination: blood lines.

Sometimes the best career move is to know when to sit one.