Interview with Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, and Michael Chiklis
There are no secret identities in “Fantastic Four.” Will the nature of celebrity be explored?
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: That’s a very different thing than any of them. We become discovered.
JESSICA ALBA: And what’s great is Johnny Storm, he acts as every pop star young guy who’s in the Star magazine, in the People magazine, the US Weekly, who gets a bunch of money and the cars.
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: He relishes it.
JESSICA ALBA: He loves it and he’s living out the fantasy of every pop star/"American Idol"-wannabe guy. [Reed’s] the scientist and he doesn’t really...
IOAN GRUFFUDD: I’m [wracked] with guilt.
JESSICA ALBA: Yeah, he doesn’t capitalize on the fame thing. I think actually Ben Grimm has a very difficult time with it. He can’t really get away from it.
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: I’m the one who looks at it as a malady. She’s still gorgeous but she can knock people down with this force field. She can disappear. He can stretch himself but he’s still the handsome, dashing cad (laughter). I’m this leper. And then when I… I don’t want to give anything away, but I’m dealing with a sense of betrayal in this picture, as well, because I wanted to believe. That’s one of the great things that’s written about this. You have Dr. Doom who’s trying to create a wedge between the relationships of the Fantastic Four, particularly [Reed] and I and causing mistrust and a feeling of betrayal. And it’s like Jessica said, it’s about overcoming that and those feelings and coming together as a core.
And then obviously the ultimate metaphor is as a core, as a family, overcoming evil.
Jessica, did your role in “Sin City” help prepare you to play this comic book character?
JESSICA ALBA: Not at all (laughing). No, “Sin City” is a whole other thing – a whole other thing.
Will there be the playful part of the “Fantastic Four” story, where Reed and Ben are like brothers going through this?
IOAN GRUFFUDD: Yes, I think so. I mean, I think the beginning of the story is us as real people and our friendship, and then the accident happens. So yes, certainly you’ll have that element to it.
What about your temples? What color will they be?
IOAN GRUFFUDD: I’m not sure whether I play him from the beginning that he went gray from the age of 19. I think that’s the starter. Or do I then… Since the accident does he develop those little graying hairs? That’s something to play with. We’ll have to talk about that and discuss that.
And you’re already blonde for the role.
JESSICA ALBA: I was actually blonde in “Sin City” and “Into the Blue.” This is my third.
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: I’m blonde too (laughing).
Will you be throwing a couch?
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: I’ll be throwing all kinds of things. I have a really cool moment with a lamppost in this movie. You know it’s one of those things as an actor – and I know you guys are going to hook up to this – where you read the [script] and you go, “Oh cool honey, I get to do this!” You know what I mean? Like there’s… No, I can’t tell.
Oh, go ahead.
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: There’s so many moments where I’m reading it going, “Oh, that’s awesome!” It’s really well-written, I have to say.
JESSICA ALBA: It really is.
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: As an actor, the hardest thing in the world is when you read a script and you go, “Oh boy,” at all, on any level. And even if it’s just okay, then there’s this feeling that you have to lift it. You have to bring something more to it. When it’s good on the page, all of a sudden now it raises your confidence level because you go into it feeling armed. The best example I have of that is I did a one-man show on Broadway once. It was really successful, and it was successful because it was a great script. And I used to go out there on Friday nights, which is the worst night in the world on Broadway because it’s all the New Yorkers who are sitting there like this, “Alright assh***. I paid $65 a head, make me laugh.” But I felt confident because I knew I was armed with the material. So I could go out there and go, “Okay, you’re copping an attitude now but I know by the time to get to ‘Alright I’m an assh***’ I’m going to get the laugh.” It really feels good to be armed.
Will your character have a blind girlfriend?
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: Yes, yes. And I don’t know who she is yet and I can’t wait to meet her (laughing).
When does this start for you guys?
JESSICA ALBA: In a month.
Did you have to prepare physically for this?
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: I’m training like a freak, personally. (Laughing) I need to trim down at the waist and bulk up at the [chest]. I’m hitting it big time.
JESSICA ALBA: I always train before a movie because it’s actually quite exhausting. I mean, we’re on the set literally and have to be there 14 hours easy, [on an] easy day. In order to be able to do that, you’ve got to be on your game.
"FANTASTIC FOUR" CAST INTERVIEWS - CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: That’s a very different thing than any of them. We become discovered.
JESSICA ALBA: And what’s great is Johnny Storm, he acts as every pop star young guy who’s in the Star magazine, in the People magazine, the US Weekly, who gets a bunch of money and the cars.
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: He relishes it.
JESSICA ALBA: He loves it and he’s living out the fantasy of every pop star/"American Idol"-wannabe guy. [Reed’s] the scientist and he doesn’t really...
IOAN GRUFFUDD: I’m [wracked] with guilt.
JESSICA ALBA: Yeah, he doesn’t capitalize on the fame thing. I think actually Ben Grimm has a very difficult time with it. He can’t really get away from it.
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: I’m the one who looks at it as a malady. She’s still gorgeous but she can knock people down with this force field. She can disappear. He can stretch himself but he’s still the handsome, dashing cad (laughter). I’m this leper. And then when I… I don’t want to give anything away, but I’m dealing with a sense of betrayal in this picture, as well, because I wanted to believe. That’s one of the great things that’s written about this. You have Dr. Doom who’s trying to create a wedge between the relationships of the Fantastic Four, particularly [Reed] and I and causing mistrust and a feeling of betrayal. And it’s like Jessica said, it’s about overcoming that and those feelings and coming together as a core.
And then obviously the ultimate metaphor is as a core, as a family, overcoming evil.
Jessica, did your role in “Sin City” help prepare you to play this comic book character?
JESSICA ALBA: Not at all (laughing). No, “Sin City” is a whole other thing – a whole other thing.
Will there be the playful part of the “Fantastic Four” story, where Reed and Ben are like brothers going through this?
IOAN GRUFFUDD: Yes, I think so. I mean, I think the beginning of the story is us as real people and our friendship, and then the accident happens. So yes, certainly you’ll have that element to it.
What about your temples? What color will they be?
IOAN GRUFFUDD: I’m not sure whether I play him from the beginning that he went gray from the age of 19. I think that’s the starter. Or do I then… Since the accident does he develop those little graying hairs? That’s something to play with. We’ll have to talk about that and discuss that.
And you’re already blonde for the role.
JESSICA ALBA: I was actually blonde in “Sin City” and “Into the Blue.” This is my third.
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: I’m blonde too (laughing).
Will you be throwing a couch?
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: I’ll be throwing all kinds of things. I have a really cool moment with a lamppost in this movie. You know it’s one of those things as an actor – and I know you guys are going to hook up to this – where you read the [script] and you go, “Oh cool honey, I get to do this!” You know what I mean? Like there’s… No, I can’t tell.
Oh, go ahead.
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: There’s so many moments where I’m reading it going, “Oh, that’s awesome!” It’s really well-written, I have to say.
JESSICA ALBA: It really is.
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: As an actor, the hardest thing in the world is when you read a script and you go, “Oh boy,” at all, on any level. And even if it’s just okay, then there’s this feeling that you have to lift it. You have to bring something more to it. When it’s good on the page, all of a sudden now it raises your confidence level because you go into it feeling armed. The best example I have of that is I did a one-man show on Broadway once. It was really successful, and it was successful because it was a great script. And I used to go out there on Friday nights, which is the worst night in the world on Broadway because it’s all the New Yorkers who are sitting there like this, “Alright assh***. I paid $65 a head, make me laugh.” But I felt confident because I knew I was armed with the material. So I could go out there and go, “Okay, you’re copping an attitude now but I know by the time to get to ‘Alright I’m an assh***’ I’m going to get the laugh.” It really feels good to be armed.
Will your character have a blind girlfriend?
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: Yes, yes. And I don’t know who she is yet and I can’t wait to meet her (laughing).
When does this start for you guys?
JESSICA ALBA: In a month.
Did you have to prepare physically for this?
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: I’m training like a freak, personally. (Laughing) I need to trim down at the waist and bulk up at the [chest]. I’m hitting it big time.
JESSICA ALBA: I always train before a movie because it’s actually quite exhausting. I mean, we’re on the set literally and have to be there 14 hours easy, [on an] easy day. In order to be able to do that, you’ve got to be on your game.
"FANTASTIC FOUR" CAST INTERVIEWS - CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
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