Outside the Beltway

‘Fantastic Four’ Movie

James Joyner · Tuesday, September 28, 2004 · 3 comments

This story is several days old, but this is the first I’ve seen of it:

‘Fantastic Four’ refers to actors, too (USA Today)

After several false starts, the movie version of the dysfunctional family of comic-book superheroes known as the Fantastic Four has commenced filming in Vancouver, B.C., and will arrive in theaters July 1. For those who can’t wait to see who is in the signature skin-tight blue uniforms, here is an exclusive peek at the contentious clan that has been one of the most popular titles in the Marvel universe.

Three of the “imaginauts” who gain special powers after being caught in a cosmic storm in outer space are rising stars:

• Jessica Alba, 23, star of TV’s Dark Angel, is Sue Storm, also known as the Invisible Woman, who has a romance with Reed.

̢ۢ Welshman Ioan Gruffudd, 30, goes from Lancelot in King Arthur to scientist Reed Richards, whose Mr. Fantastic has the ability to stretch.

• Chris Evans, 23, currently seen in Cellular, is Sue’s bro Johnny, a cocky pilot who turns up the heat as the Human Torch.

• The most recognizable face is also the most covered. Veteran actor Michael Chiklis, 41, of TV’s The Shield, will grumble his way through the role of Ben Grimm, aka the Thing, a boulder-bodied mound of power whose battle cry is “It’s clobberin’ time!”

Don’t expect a computerized brute as in The Hulk. That’s Chiklis inside the craggy foam-rubber suit that, with shoes, weighs about 70 pounds. “That is the whole center of Ben’s problem — he’s trapped,” says Chiklis. “He’s a tragic hero. It’s a delicate balance between formidable and ferocious and warm and fuzzy.” Chiklis, who has embodied such icons as John Belushi in 1989’s Wired and Curly in TheThree Stooges TV movie, understands why he got the part. “It’s typecasting,” says the actor, who built up his rock-man endurance by running 10Ks five days a week for the past three months. “A guy with a hard exterior who’s got a beautiful heart.”

***

Julian McMahon of TV’s Nip/Tuck takes on villain Dr. Doom, but the Four have formidable movie competition, as well. The Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise remake of the alien-attack thriller War of the Worlds will invade theaters June 29, two days before Fantastic Four.

Via Steven Taylor

Alba and Chicklis look good in their roles. Gruffudd and Evans look remarkably similar, certainly not conveying the vast age difference between scientist Reed Richards and teenage Johnny Storm. One hopes, too, that Alba makes limited use of her power of invisibility.