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Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
Josh Trank | |
|---|---|
 Trank at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con | |
| Born | Joshua Benjamin Trank February 19, 1984 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Spouse |
Krystin Ver Linden
(m. 2013; div. 2017) |
| Relatives | Judy Toll (stepmother) |
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 film Chronicle (2012), the superhero film Fantastic Four (2015), and the Al Capone biographical film Capone (2020).
Josh Trank was born in Los Angeles to school teacher Pamela Trank and documentary filmmaker Richard Trank. His father produced the Academy Award winning documentary The Long Way Home.[3] Trank also has a younger sister and is Jewish. When Trank was 13, his parents divorced and later his father remarried to comedian Judy 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 with The Groundlings. "[The] experience, changed me...I think about her still, like, every day, and I miss her tremendously."[4] In 2002, Trank graduated from Beverly 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 with Kevin Smith on the podcast Fatman 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 2007 Spike TV drama miniseries The Kill Point. In 2009, Trank edited the independent film Big Fan, starring Patton 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, by 20th 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] Up until May 2026 with Kane Parsons (20, Backrooms) and Curry Barker (26, Obsession), the release of Chronicle had Trank break the record for the youngest director to open a film at number one at the US box office, at age 27.[citation needed][9] He is followed by Steven Spielberg (28, with Jaws) and James Cameron (30, with The Terminator).[citation needed][10] After the release of Chronicle, Trank was linked to Sony's Spider-Man spin-off Venom,[11] Warner Bros.'s The Red Star,[12] and Sony's film adaptation of the video game Shadow of the Colossus;[13] however, Trank turned down those film projects, despite turning in a pitch of a R-rated film of Venom in the vein of The Mask that he wrote with his mentor Robert D. Siegel.[14][15][16]
Trank directed the 2015 reboot of Fantastic Four,[17][18] which was released in August 2015. The film flopped at the box office and was critically panned; it received a 9% rating on Rotten Tomatoes[19] and a 27 out of 100 rating from Metacritic.[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, actor Toby Kebbell, who worked with Trank on the film, supported Trank's claim.[22] However, in early 2020, Trank stated that there were several scenes he was unable to film, making a director's cut highly improbable.[4]
In June 2014, it was announced that Trank would direct a stand-alone Star Wars film about Boba 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 of Fantastic Four, primarily a lack of communication with the film's producers, and that Lucasfilm had decided to pursue another director.[25] Trank told the Los 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 of Fantastic Four.[26]
In 2020, following a five-year hiatus from directing, Trank wrote and directed his original Al Capone biopic Capone, with Tom Hardy starring.[27] It was released through video 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 the CIA, with Hardy starring.[30]
In March 2025, it was announced that Trank will be directing a horror-thriller film, Send a Scare, with Victoria Justice, Robbie Amell, Noel Fisher, and Mackinlee Waddell set to star.[31]
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, Trank married screenwriter Krystin Ver Linden; they divorced in 2017.[4] He deleted his Twitter and Instagram accounts in June 2020.[33]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Chronicle | Yes | Story | Co-wrote story with Max Landis |
| 2015 | Fantastic Four | Yes | Yes | Co-wrote with Jeremy Slater and Simon Kinberg |
| 2020 | Capone | Yes | Yes | Also editor |
Acting credits
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Big Fan | Wrong Phil's Buddy | |
| 2013 | Arrested Development | Process Server Bum | Episode "A New Start" |
| 2020 | Capone | Agent Clifford M. Harris | |
| 2021 | On Cinema | Himself | Episode: "The Eighth On Cinema Oscar Special" |
Other credits
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Big Fan | Co-producer, editor and second unit director |
| 2011 | The Lie | Second unit director |
| 2021 | Happily | Thanks |
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Online Film & Television Association | Best Feature Debut | Chronicle | Nominated | [34] |
| 2015 | Razzie Awards | Worst Director | Fantastic Four | Won | [35] |
| Worst Screenplay | Nominated |
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Joshua Benjamin Trank (born February 19, 1984) is an American film director, screenwriter, and film editor. He is known for directing the found-footage sci-fi thriller film Chronicle (2012), the superhero film Fantastic Four (2015), and the Al Capone biographical film Capone (2020).
The superhero team Fantastic Four, featured in Marvel Comics publications, has appeared in five live-action films since its inception. The plots deal with four main characters, known formally as Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm, and how they adapt to the superpowers they attain. Constantin Film bought the film rights for the characters in 1986. A low-budget film was produced in 1992 by New Horizon Studios, owned by Roger Corman, though it has never been officially released. In 2004, after Constantin sub-licensed the film rights to 20th Century Fox, a second Fantastic Four film entered production. Fantastic Four was released in 2005 and the sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was released in 2007. Both films were ill-received by critics, yet earned a combined US$635 million worldwide at the box office. Due to Fox's disappointment with the box-office returns of Rise of the Silver Surfer, a potential third film and a Silver Surfer spin-off film were canceled. A reboot of the series, Fantastic Four, directed by Josh Trank, was released in 2015 and received largely negative reviews from both critics and audiences, and was a box-office bomb. Trank himself disowned the final product, claiming studio interference from Fox. A sequel was scheduled to be released in 2017, but was canceled. In March 2019, Marvel Studios regained the film rights to the Fantastic Four and their associated characters, after the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney. The Fantastic Four: First Steps, part of Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), was released in 2025 and became the most positively reviewed film in the series. After the acquisition, the Fox-produced Fantastic Four films were rebranded as "Marvel Legacy" films on Disney+ alongside other non-MCU Marvel films. They were then retitled "Fantastic Adventures" in July 2023, alongside two Fantastic Four animated series.
Chronicle is a 2012 American film directed by Josh Trank in his feature-length directorial debut, and written by Max Landis. It follows three Seattle high school seniors—bullied Andrew (Dane DeHaan), his cousin Matt (Alex Russell), and the popular Steve (Michael B. Jordan)—who form a bond after gaining telekinetic powers from an unknown object and using them for fun, until Andrew begins going down a darker path. Chronicle premiered at the Gérardmer Film Festival on January 28, 2012, and was released in the United States on February 3, by 20th Century Fox. The film grossed $127 million against a budget of $12-15 million. It received generally positive reviews, and received a nomination for Best Science Fiction Film at the 39th Saturn Awards.
Rocco Rampino (born 4 July 1983 in Lecce), better known as Congorock, is an Italian producer and DJ, best known for his song "Babylon,” released in 2010. In 2012, Congorock joined Rihanna on her 777 Tour. The song "Sirius" with Alle Benassi was included on the soundtrack for the 2012 film Chronicle by Josh Trank.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →The Greenwood District.
