OPPENHEIMER Actor David Krumholtz Begged THE FANTASTIC 4 Director To Cast Him as The Thing

Oppenheimer actor David Krumholtz recently shared that he wanted to play the part of The Beast in Marvel’s The Fantastic 4 movie so bad that he resorted to begging director Matt Shakman to cast him in the role. He didn’t get the part. The role of Ben Grimm ultimately went to The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach.

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor, who previously appeared in films such as Addams Family Values and The Santa Clause, talked about his childhood obsession with Marvel Comics, which led to him sharing the details about his meeting with Shakman, which happened thanks to a post on X that he shared:

"I was embarrassed. My post said, 'I just want to be in the conversation.' And it was a picture of the Thing, and Matt saw it somehow. And I had a meeting with him and we discussed it. And I've never been so bold in a meeting before, just begging for the role, just straight up selling the shit out of it, the idea of how committed and passionate I was for it. But obviously that didn't happen."

While things didn’t work out in his favor, he holds no grudge against Moss-Bachrach, who landed the part. Krumholtz has now set his sights on playing another character in the Marvel universe… Fantastic Four's first-ever villain, Mole Man.

"I'll do anything Marvel tells me to. I'll probably end up playing like a superhero's therapist. Let's face it. There's slim pickings for guys like me in that world, unfortunately. I'm old and I'm not in any kind of acceptable shape. So we'll see how that works out, if it works out at all."

Hell, cast him as Mole Man! He’d be so fun in the role!

The movie is set in the ‘60s and it also stars Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us) as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning) as Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman; Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) as Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch.

Fantastic 4 will hit theaters on July 25, 2025.