I just realized that Fantastic Four comes out this week and I haven’t devoted any time to hating on my favorite frat boy Miles Teller. These are photos from last night’s F4 premiere in NYC – you can see some photos of the rest of the cast at the end of the post. I have such mixed feelings about Miles – he’s an arrogant douche, of course, but I actually do find him attractive and charismatic on-screen and he really does have genuine talent as an actor. I still love the fact that Miles spent most of the Whiplash promotion not knowing anything about iconic character actor JK Simmons and then Simmons went on to win the Oscar. That still amuses me.

Anyway, Miles and F4 crew (Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Michael B. Jordan) have been making the rounds all week to promote the film. To say that the film is not being well-received by critics is an understatement – its current ranking on Rotten Tomatoes is 14% among all critics, down from 20% earlier in the week. In Miles’ interviews from the past week, he seems to be preparing himself (and his fans) for the worst. Some assorted quotes from his interviews:

On comic books: “I think I collected comic books at one point in my life just because I thought that was a phase I’d go through as a boy. But it was more of a collectable thing, I didn’t really get much out of reading them. But the comic book format didn’t really speak to me. I only really dug it when they were converted into video games, like The X-Men, the one at the arcade specifically. That was sick.”

His dad is a big Fantastic Four fan: “Once I was cast, my dad revealed that, when he was my age, Fantastic Four was his favourite comic book. So I was like, ‘Well that’s gotta be kind of tricky, man. That now, at age 60, your son is playing this character that you grew up with.’”

Putting together the new F4 cast: “I think I speak for all us that I was very excited by the cast. Hopefully, we’ll be making these films for many years. I think the casting of it was, yes, by far one of the most interesting parts about it. I don’t think people saw us individually as these characters at all. But they wanted to cast actors that maybe had a footing in dramatic acting, and I think that’s served us well for the story.”

Which superhero he would like to play: “If there’s any superhero I could play, it would be Thor. Are you kidding me? For sure. I’d be jacked. I love the hammer. That’s the best.”

The hate he gets online: “I absorb it all, all the negative stuff people say. I see every hateful thing people write to me on Twitter. Because I check it. I take it in.”

Big comic-book films are never critically acclaimed? “Rarely are films of this size critically well received. This is not a movie we’re going to go on (review website) Rotten Tomatoes and it’s going to be at 80 or 90 per cent.”

F4 has soul: “We did try to do something more than soulless, popcorn action. We tried to make something coming from a more dramatic standpoint so we’re hoping that people enjoy it and recognise that we’re trying to do something original.”

[From The Independent & the BBC]

“Rarely are films of this size critically well received…” Except for, you know, every other Marvel film. “We did try to do something more than soulless, popcorn action…” Like every other Marvel film? I don’t know – Miles is such an unrepentant douche-bro, I kind of love him.

Some additional photos from the premiere. I’m pretty sure Jamie Bell and Kate Mara are dating these days.

Photos courtesy of WENN.