Empire just unveiled a bunch of new Fantastic Four images and now we’ve got some additional quotes from director Josh Trank to go along with them. In our own interview with Trank and producer Simon Kinberg, the pair discussed what sets Fantastic Four apart from other superhero movies, highlighting their “hard sci-fi take” on the material. With Empire (via CBM), Trank specifically addressed the difference between the movie he wanted to make and previous Fantastic Four films:

“The original two films to me are very similar to a lot of recent movies that have come out, in terms of that kind of cartoonish. It’s just not something that me and Simon are interested in as storytellers.”

Trank elaborated by discussing the tone of the film and how he handled the source material:

“There’s the opportunity to make something that is challenging and tragic and dramatic. The opportunity is right there in the material. We’d rather steer it in that direction as opposed to just embracing a tone that comes right off the page.”

Trank also discussed his choice to change Johnny Storm’s (Michael B. Jordan) race, noting that he has a mixed race family himself and that he wanted the Storms to represent 21st century families. Here’s what Trank had to say about the topic in our interview:

“I had just come off working with Michael B. Jordan and his character, Steve, in Chronicle had a lot of similar characteristics to Johnny Storm. And I thought it would be interesting to take the family dynamic of the Storms, which is brother and sister, and bring that more into the 21st century in terms of what we consider the norm. I have mixed family in my own family and it’s something that isn’t out of the ordinary anymore but we don’t really see it portrayed in the casual reality of the movies. That’s something I felt that would be interesting and challenging, to have mixed siblings.”

As for Sue Storm (Kate Mara), Trank switches things up a bit for her as well:

“There have always been two categories of Sue – the slutty secretary version, and this brilliant scientist version. This is a really, really smart Sue, and one that is dignified and has integrity.”

Trank also discussed Ben Grimm’s relationship with Reed Richards (Miles Teller) and what made Jamie Bell the right guy for the part:

“Ben is supposed to be a smaller guy in terms of height. That idea of Ben being Reeds best friend in the archetypical way, you want that character to have warmth and strength, qualities Jamie has.”

Trank went on to address The Thing transformation we see in the trailer, dubbing the structure a “transformation cocoon.” The Thing punches his way out of this cocoon and from there, the character will be created almost entirely using motion capture effects.

When asked about Reed’s greying temples, Trank teased: