From 2001 to 2003, Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” movies dominated the pop culture landscape. Jackson famously shot all three films at the same time, and they were all released within one year of each other, inspiring pundits and critics to rethink the way long-running movie franchises were going to be made going forward. In the Before Times, studios usually wouldn’t plan out multiple sequels at the same time, instead waiting for one film to make its money before starting a conversation about the next. However, between the “Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter” movies, the conversation changed in the 2000s. From then on, multipart film series could be pitched en masse. This, in turn, led directly to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, et al.

Because his “Rings” flicks were so revolutionary, Jackson was given carte blanche to make whatever movie he wanted as his follow-up project. Perhaps weirdly, he chose to remake Marien C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s 1933 classic “King Kong,” a film that greatly inspired Jackson as a child. Jackson’s “King Kong,” which came out in 2005, wasn’t a great film, but it was a kind gesture; Jackson seemed to be having a blast.

He wasn’t the only one who wanted to surf the crest of “Rings” popularity, either. Sean Astin, who played the hobbit Samwise Gamgee in the “Rings” movies, knew the iron was hot and felt it was time to strike. Housing directorial ambitions, Astin sensed that 2003 was the ideal time to begin pitching a high-profile, big-budget pop movie project of his own. Even back then, Astin had already intuited that superheroes were going to be the Next Big Thing. Specifically, he knew that the Fantastic Four deserved their own movie, and he wanted to direct it.

Astin’s story is long and detailed. Speaking at the 2019 Las Vegas Comic Con (via Collider), he explained that “the campaign to get the job was what was amazing.” He noted there were already many screenplays for a “Fantastic Four” movie circulating around Hollywood at that time, the most famous of which had Christopher Columbus attached to direct. Columbus, as it were, was also riding high in the early 2000s, having helmed the first two “Harry Potter” movies. Hence, Astin said he, rather painstakingly, tracked down the assorted “Fantastic Four” scripts so he could examine the ways the project had been evolving. 

On top of that, Astin already knew Columbus since he had written the script for “The Goonies,” which Astin had famously starred in as a child. As such, he tracked the filmmaker down, and they had a few words about Astin’s “Fantastic Four” ambitions. As Astin recalled:

“I went and I found all of those screenplays. I remember calling Chris Columbus […] and because he wrote ‘The Goonies,’ he took my call. And I said ‘I really want to direct this.’ Not really knowing that he was slated to direct it for a period of time, and that he shepherded it. […] It was in his control. I asked ‘Wow, are you going to do it?’ He said ‘I don’t think so, ’cause the version I would want to make would cost $200 million.'”

Telling Columbus that the version he was picturing would only cost about $30 million, Astin then asked if he could have the script, so the former handed it over. Once that was secure, Astin traveled around the world checking out various special effects houses, as he knew “Fantastic Four” would require cutting-edge tech, and he wanted to be savvy to what was being done. As a result, he wound up talking to artists at Lucasfilm and, naturally, Wētā Workshop, which had previously worked on Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” movies.

It was at this point in the story that Astin admitted that, uh, he didn’t actually know anything about the Fantastic Four. Or, rather, he was aware it was a hot comic book property, but he wasn’t a fan. Indeed, part of his development process, he admitted, entailed gathering a bunch of money and buying all the “Fantastic Four” comics he could, with the intention of reading them all. The plan as he put it, was to give himself an expensive crash course in Marvel lore. In his own words:

“I jumped in a cab and went to Midtown Comics. I called Midtown Comics, and I’m like … I didn’t know anything about it. I wouldn’t know anything from Fantastic Four. If the characters walked in front of me, I would’t know who they were. I just knew ‘This is America.’ […] American heroes. So, I said to the guy at Midtown ‘I’m coming in. I want to buy every single thing in your comic book store that has anything to do with Fantastic Four.’ He said, ‘Really?'” 

The endeavor, Astin was relieved to find, didn’t require that he purchase any expensive, rare first-edition comics. He also remembered trying to set up a meeting with, yes, Christina Aguilera, who he thought she would be a good Sue Storm. The meeting never happened, but she did indeed get a call. This was 2003, shortly after the release of her album “Stripped,” so she was very much in the public eye. The conversation seems to have been a non-starter.

Sadly, the larger project fell apart as well. Astin was passionate, but the fact that he had never directed a feature before made studio executives skittish, and he was not hired. It was, however, Astin’s idea to cast Michael Chiklis as the Thing, a role he would eventually play in Tim Story’s 2005 “Fantastic Four” film. Astin also talked to Cameron Diaz about playing Sue Storm, but she turned it down, not wanting to wear superhero makeup. He didn’t get to direct the movie, but Astin may have been a major factor in bringing Fantastic Four to the big screen.