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As we all well know, there were problems on Josh Trank’s reboot of Fantastic Four. But of course, our understanding of the behind-the-scenes drama is limited because of the obvious fact - we weren’t there. Between the reports claiming that Trank’s behavior on set was “erratic,” the deleted Tweets Trank wrote about the “fantastic version” of the film that would never see the light of day and the movie’s dismal performance at the box office, one could extrapolate that Trank might have a very difficult time securing funding and talent for future films - and many did.

Five years after the release of Fantastic Four, however, Trank is busy celebrating the release of another feature he got to make his way with a slew of top tier talent, Capone. Tom Hardy leads as the title character, Al Capone, with the movie following what happens to the infamous gangster after spending 11 years in prison for tax evasion.

We recently had the opportunity to record a brand new installment of Collider Connected with  Hardy’s Capone co-star, Linda Cardellini, and she was generous enough to get candid about her thought process when she was approached to join the cast of the movie. Here’s what she told us when asked if the Fantastic Four situation weighed heavily on her mind when deciding whether or not to take the role of Al Capone’s wife, Mae:

“I didn’t parse through that at all. I really didn’t. I had received some interest and letters, and I was asked to join, and I met Josh. And I had seen Chronicle which I thought was fantastic. And I met Josh and I loved him. I think he’s so interesting, he’s so smart, he is very generous. Tom loves him, I love Tom’s work. There’s nobody better. There was never any consideration about any of that stuff to me because being on this side, you know that there are stories told about people and there are multiple sides of those stories and who knows what’s what? So I don’t really ever go into anything based on what I’ve heard and as a result I tend to have wonderful experiences with people that people ask me, ‘Oh, so and so had a bad experience,’ and then I will be completely shocked because I am sort of out of it. I don’t really pay that much attention to a lot of that stuff at times. [Laughs]

 

I mean, it ebbs and flows. But also, you never know. You never know what somebody’s going through in any period of time. Whether you hear a story about an actor or actress who misbehaves, or a producer or a director or whoever it is, I think it’s a long life in this business if you’re lucky, and you will go through things, and that’s part of it too. It’s like life, you know?

 

So none of that mattered to me. I met him, I loved him. I loved the script. I loved the idea of doing something that was so out of left field that people thought they were going to see this shoot-em-up Capone movie and it’s the opposite of what you’re expecting. I liked the sort of left turn of that, and everybody involved. I had such a good time on that movie, you know, and Josh is at the top of bringing everybody in. We had the best time making that movie. We were all in this mansion in Florida making this movie and it was a real exercise in imagination, and fun and challenging. It was a party. We had a great time. So none of that stuff matters. What matters to me is day to day and if I feel like I can be treated with love and respect, and if I can treat the work with love and respect, and that’s what I do.”

We could play the he said, she said game with this matter all day, something Adam Chitwood expressed with more specificity in one of our more recent articles on the matter: “Who’s to blame? Is it Fox for going back on their desire to give Trank creative freedom, or Trank for making a comic book movie when he had no interest in comic books in the first place?” The point of the matter is, there’s no certainty when it comes to pointing a finger in this situation, so why do it? And it appears that Cardellini assessed her offer in that manner; it’s not about those stories you heard, but rather the confidence you have that you’re going to be treated with respect on set and have collaborates that can help you deliver your best possible work.

If you want to hear even more from Cardellini about her experience working on the MCU, Freaks and Geeks, ER and so much more, do keep an eye  out for her full Collider Connected episode dropping next week. And if you’ve seen all of her hit Netflix show Dead to Me, you can check out her spoiler-heavy thoughts on the Season 2 conclusion right here.