Sean Astin Almost Directed A ‘Fantastic Four’ Film & Approached Cameron Diaz, Christina Aguilera & Michael Chiklis For Roles

Almost 20 years ago, after actor-filmmaker Sean Astin finished his role in Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, he was looking for another project to tackle. And according to a new interview with Collider, Astin thought that project might have been “Fantastic Four.”

In the video below, you can hear Sean Astin talk about fighting to get his version of “Fantastic Four” made, while also jumping through hoops with folks at Fox. Things went from being a long shot to serious, when Astin started talking to the execs at the studio and they were actually giving him a shot to develop the film a little bit, starting with the script.

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Shortly thereafter, Astin started thinking about casting for the film. He was at a boxing match and saw Michael Chiklis. Astin said to the actor, “‘You’ve gotta play Thing … that part came down from God for you. You have to play this part.’”

From there, the “Lord of the Rings” actor thought he found his Sue Storm. At one point, he thought he’d go after Christina Aguilera, who he said could have been a “great” version of the Invisible Woman. Aguilera wasn’t the only actress he considered for that role, however.

He met with Cameron Diaz about the idea of her playing Sue. He described the meeting, “She was like, ‘Wait, how long do I have to be in the make-up?’ And I was like, ‘Well, maybe a while.’ She said, ‘Yeah, I don’t want to do that.’”

READ MORE: Producers Of 2015 ‘Fantastic Four’ Reboot Admit Mistakes Were Made & “Suffered” Because Of Tonal Disconnect From Comic Books

Obviously, we know how this story ends. Astin was ultimately not chosen to direct “Fantastic Four.” Instead, that job went to director Tim Story, who not only helmed the first film in the series, but returned for the eventual sequel, “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” Interestingly enough, Chiklis, who Astin approached, did land the job of The Thing and was maybe the best part of the whole damn film.

The story of the “Fantastic Four” series doesn’t end well, unfortunately. After the two films, the franchise lingered and was rebooted with the terrible 2015 “Fantastic Four” directed by Josh Trank. So, hindsight being 20/20, maybe Fox wouldn’t have really suffered all that much giving Astin a shot.