Matt Shakman Talks About How 'Always Sunny In Philadelphia' Inspired 'Fantastic 4'

Marvel

Nov 13

Image Source: IMDb

Matt Shakman is taking on the director’s cap for the upcoming Fantastic Four movie. This won’t be his first MCU credit, and beyond that, he has a fair bit of experience. A previous credit for the director is It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia; more specifically, he is credited with directing 43 episodes of the sitcom according to IMDb. In an exclusive interview with ComicBook.com, Shakman discusses how the show will trickle into his new work with the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot.

Shakman talked about the energy brought to the table, describing the energy brought to the show that made the experience unique, "I've learned so much from working on It's Always Sunny over the years. Those guys bring a unique combination of playfulness and precision, and I think you have to have both of those things in everything you make.” The director continued, explaining, “You have to still be a kid in the sandbox playing and inventing, but you also have to be rigorous about what you're doing and comedy is even more rigorous than anything else. The precision of making something funny is often way harder than making something really complicated with special effects work. So playfulness and precision."

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Shakman brought up improv and how it has had an impact on his process, explaining, "And there's so much improv on that show that the rule of improv, which maybe you've heard when you do improv, is you say yes and…” He continued, “And that's, I think, the essence of collaboration and it's how I think anything good, whether it's a giant awesome show like Monarch that's made across continents, or whether it's something, Paddy's Pub made for two nickels with four or five people. So that spirit infects, I think, or informs, I should say, everything that I do."

Fantastic Four is currently scheduled to hit theaters on May 2, 2025. More details, including a Disney+ and physical media release date, will come as the release date gets closer. If you get curious about the previous iterations of this title during the wait, the 2005 film can be streamed on Disney+ and the 2015 film can be found on Max.

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