inally, it's clobberin' time. That's right: After years of anticipation, after much grousing about the choice of cast and director, Fantastic Four is upon us. Based on the comic book of the same name, which just happens to be the jewel in the Marvel crown, Fantastic Four is an origin film that—thanks to a space mission run awry—transforms Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) and Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) into The Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, The Thing and The Human Torch. Also along for that fateful ride is Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon), an old sparring partner of Richards' who's turned into the group's most formidable enemy, Dr. Doom.
Released on July 8, Fantastic Four was produced by Marvel Studios boss Avi Arad and directed by Tim Story, whose previous credits include Barbershop and Taxi. Alba, Gruffudd, Chiklis, Evans, McMahon, Arad and Story recently took the time, during a New York City press conference, to discuss Fantastic Four.
Jessica Alba, Ioan Gruffudd, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans and Julian McMahon, if you could have a special power, one that, like the characters', was an extension of your own personality, what power would you want?
McMahon: Let's get wacky with it. Already. Jessica?
Alba: [Laughs.] Why me? Is it because I'm the only girl? To be honest with you, I'm always late. So I would need the ability to stop time. That's really an extension of my personality. I'd stop everything. But I could still move around and finish getting ready, which is why I'm always late.
Chiklis: Wow. That's a good one.
McMahon: I'd like to have all the powers that these guys possess, and I'd like to crush it. You know, I've always wanted to fly. I have to be honest. The whole commercial travel thing I just don't like. So you could cut out, like, custom lines and checking bags and all that kind of stuff.
Chiklis: I guess that I'd be Obnoxious Man, because that'd be a further extent of my personality. I'm just so chatty that I can I talk a dog off of a meat wagon. So I'd have the power to literally put nations to sleep by talking for days on end. I can talk a hungry dog off of a meat wagon.
Alba: He can really talk.
Gruffudd: If there was a special power for patience ... I don't know. [All the other actors moan.] Powers of suaveness.
Chiklis: Chris, come on. You're not getting out of this.
Evans: I know, but I don't have anything funny. I think that I'd rather just like to see into the future and probably put a lot of my fears to rest. I'm a little overanalytical at times, and that might help. Well said. OK.
Chiklis: No. No. That was just so deep that it freaked me out. Obviously, we're feeling pretty loose. We've been waiting for this day for a long time. It's been a lot of buildup, and we're all really excited.
How concerned are any of you about typecasting, about audiences possibly not seeing you as anything but these characters?
Gruffudd: Well, I've been renowned for playing a character called Horatio Hornblower for the last six or seven years, and so I'm very glad to be carrying the name of Mr. Fantastic from here on in. So it's not such a bad name to have.
Chiklis: Personally, I consider this part of a body of work in my life. Also, with me, it'll be hard to typecast me as the orange rock guy. So I don't have any fear of that.
Evans: Well, yeah. I guess I'm a little worried. This is obviously kind of one of my first things, and so I could definitely kind of fall into that pigeonhole. But if the movie does well, and if they're making more of them that would enable me to be pigeonholed, hopefully it'll also make me have more control and navigate the kind of choices that I make in the downtime between these movies—and [to] choose projects that legitimize myself as an actor and show a range and versatility. That came out a lot better than I ever would have thought.
McMahon: I think that you have to look at the positive side of this thing. I think you have a wonderful opportunity to work with Fox studio. For me particularly, I've worked in television most of my life, and I've got the opportunity to work in a movie. It's a very different feel, to work with Marvel, which is a franchise that's been bringing out wonderful movies over the last 10, 15 years, particularly. So you kind of look at it as opening doors. Never for a second did I think about this as actually closing the doors. It's just been an extraordinary opportunity.
Alba: Well, it's really nice to get to dive into a character and be a chameleon and change and show different sides of my personality in a very specific way. So this just enabled me to do that.
Avi Arad, Fantastic Four is coming right on the heels of War of the Worlds. How do you think it'll do against the competition?
Arad: Well, I feel that this is quite different than early this summer. Most of the movies were on the dark side. Fantastic Four traditionally is no secret identity, more of a dysfunctional family, kind of an action-comedy-adventure. I think our audiences are going to be, on the top end, similar, young men, young women. On the low end we have a hidden treasure, which is the younger kids. Really, this movie was designed for everybody. It's a family movie. I think Tim put in a lot of fun, comedy and heart, but not on the intense end of it, but really true to the way Fantastic Four is supposed to be, loving, like sibling rivalry and the kind of comedy that, if you saw the movie, you know is there.
Tim Story, how much pressure was on you directing Fantastic Four vs. directing your previous films?
Story: You're walking in with an audience that expects a certain thing. All films, I think when you do all films there's a certain pressure. It's not just from the studio. It's from yourself, or whatever. The pressure [on this] really came from myself. I knew immediately what I was getting into, and Avi was quick to educate me on what I was getting into.
And I was able to talk to just a couple of directors that have been through this history of being booed, and they talk about you on the Internet. Avi told me immediately, "Do not read the Internet."
They picked me for a certain thing. They said, "Tim, we picked you for story and character and this and that, and we're going to support you when it comes to the effects and action and stuff. Just go out there and do what it is you do." With that kind of support, the pressure just comes down to getting through the rainy days in Vancouver. That's where the real pressure comes through, because when you're out there shooting, you're surrounded by everybody that supports. Nobody is sitting in front of you saying, "No, you can't do it." They're all going, "What's next?" So the pressure was big, but I dealt with it.
If Fantastic Four is a success, how interested would you be in directing the sequel?
Story: Well, I would definitely want to come back for the second one. I'd definitely want to come back for a second one because, if you're familiar with the comic book, we've just scratched the surface. This was an origin movie. There are so many characters. There's so much that we have to get to, things like the Fantastic Car. Now that these guys are kind of comfortable with their powers, there's a whole other attitude that comes on. In this movie, Ben Grimm is not wanting to be what he is, but after he's comfortable with who he is he's a funny character. He's just walking around town like a superstar. So I would love to be back. Avi knows. Working with Avi and the whole group was ... I won't say incredible. But it was fantastic. So I would love to be back. ...
Back to the top.
Also in this issue:
The cast and crew of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
