Sean Astin wanted to direct Fantastic Four movie starring Christina Aguilera

Sean Astin once dreamed of rebooting the Fantastic Four franchise with Christina Aguilera among his stars.
The actor took his idea to movie bosses after completing The Lord of the Rings trilogy in 2003, after tracking down a number of scripts that were developed over the years – including one written by Home Alone director Chris Columbus – and even landed a meeting with future Marvel boss Kevin Feige.
“I was just starring in Lord of the Rings, so there was a moment where you could just call people,” Sean recalled during a recent appearance at the Amazing Comic-Con in Las Vegas. “I said, ‘Listen, is there any way in the world that you’d consider me to direct Fantastic Four?’ And he (Feige) was like, ‘Well, I don’t know’. I said, ‘So are you saying there’s zero chance? Zero? No chance? 100 per cent not gonna do it?’ He says, ‘Well, I’m not gonna say zero per cent…'”
Astin then met with Tom Rothman, the then-head of 20th Century Fox, and pitched his Fantastic Four idea – with Aguilera as superhero Sue Storm, but he got a a less-than-enthusiastic response from the studio boss.
“He looks at me and he’s like, ‘What are you doing here?’ I said, ‘I want to direct this movie’,” Astin said. “He goes, ‘Alright, well, this meeting is premature. We’ve ordered another script. It’s due in three weeks from now. And he said, ‘And I’ll let you read it.'”
Astin also approached actor Michael Chiklis and encouraged him to audition for the part of the Thing, and later tried to convince Cameron Diaz to play Sue Storm.
“She (Diaz) 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’,” he shared.
Sadly for The Lord of the Rings star, his beloved Fantastic Four project didn’t pan out, as Fox enlisted the filmmaking services of Tim Story, who directed the 2005 film, starring Jessica Alba as Sue Storm, Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards, Chris Evans as The Human Torch, and Chiklis as the Thing.