Fantastic Four (I) (2005)
Trivia
For most of the shoot, Michael Chiklis was terribly uncomfortable in the hot Thing suit. The final street battle, however, was filmed in Vancouver in December, leaving Chiklis as the only comfortable one of the four (the rest were in the skintight blue uniforms).
Stan Lee has said that Michael Chiklis's Thing is his favourite performance in any "Marvel" film ever.
As part of his costume for The Thing, Michael Chiklis wore prosthetic teeth. To prepare himself to speak with the prostheses, Chiklis wore them when reading to his children.
Jessica Alba had a kidney infection during the filming and nearly fainted when she was with Julian McMahon in the space station scene.
(at around 48 mins) While being examined by Reed, Ben mentions that he used to smoke. In the comics, the Thing used to smoke cigars, up until the early '90s, when Marvel's new editor-in-chief, Joe Quesada, instituted an "anti-smoking" policy for all the company's characters, banning them from being shown smoking on-panel.
Not the first Fantastic Four movie. Another was made ("The Fantastic Four (1994)") but never released because, unbeknown to the cast and crew, it was never intended to BE released; it was made only because the studio that owned the rights to make a Fantastic Four movie would have lost them if it did not begin production by a certain date.
Ioan Gruffudd's efforts to keep an American accent continually were hampered by the fact he would receive new script pages on a regular basis, forcing him to learn new lines at short notice.
Chris Evans improvised some of his dialogue.
Paul Walker was considered for the part of Johnny Storm.
During the pier conversation between Reed and Sue, not only were the actors not together (which is relatively common in filmmaking), they weren't even in the same country. Jessica Alba was filmed in New York City, while Ioan Gruffudd was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Michael Chiklis, the only one of four main actors already familiar with the "Fantastic Four" comic, and has been a devout fan of the Thing since childhood. He eagerly fought to have a "real" Thing rather than a computer-generated character. Chiklis wore 60 pounds of latex which took three hours to get into. To keep Chiklis cool in the suit, a rock was removed from his head and cold air was sprayed into the gap between the suit and the actor.
Many comic-book fans disliked the way Doctor Doom was portrayed. Original series author Stan Lee, who plays Willy the Postman, agreed with them.
Michael Chiklis was offered the role of Thing after Jennifer Garner suggested him for it.
Ioan Gruffudd was very excited about showing off to his Welsh parents that he was working on a major Hollywood production. Unfortunately, the day they came to visit him on set, he was filming an elevator scene.
Thing notices puppets at Alicia's art gallery and she says they belong to her father. In the comics, Alicia's stepfather Philip Masters is the super-villain the Puppet Master, a foe of the Fantastic Four.
Jason Schombing, who plays the suicidal man, was recommended by his good friend, Michael Chiklis (the Thing, who rescues him).
Jessica Alba dyed her hair blonde for this movie but wore a blonde wig for the second.
Jessica Alba's underwear scene was added after the actress had agreed to be in the film.
The sequence of Johnny Storm morphing into a ball of flames and soaring over Manhattan took 4 months to create.
Several moments in the movie take their visual cue from Jack Kirby's work in the very first "Fantastic Four" comic:
- The cosmic storm is depicted as bullet-shaped rays
- Ben possesses the lumpy craggy face from his earlier appearance rather than his more familiar beetle-brow
- Johnny races against a missile like he does in the opening act of the comic
- Ben smashes into an oncoming truck in an angle identical to the one given in a panel where he exits a manhole directly in the path of an oncoming car
- and Johnny's flame-form is a smoldering pillar of fire like it was in the earlier comics rather than the more familiar "burning man" look
During development Chris Columbus pushed for the film to have a heavily comedic tone along the lines of the Batman (1966) TV series. Despite being hired because of his comedy background, Tim Story was able to persuade Columbus that going for an outright comedic tone would end in disaster, and pointed to the success of Spider-Man (2002) as proof that the film could still contain plenty of humor while having a generally serious overall storyline.
Hugh Jackman (Wolverine in the X-Men films) was offered the role of Reed Richards. In a deleted scene, Reed turned into Jackman as Wolverine.
(at around 2 mins) Victor foreshadows Mr. Fantastic and The Thing before the storm scene happens. He firstly comments on Reed Richards 'stretching' for the stars during the meeting, then later jokes about Ben Grimm doing 'all the heavy lifting'.
It was Ioan Gruffudd's idea that Reed should continually be taking notes: "On a good day, I'd be writing formulas that I remembered from my algebra class in school, and on a day when I was really concentrating on the other actor, it would just be gibberish."
In the early 1990s Bernd Eichinger's option on the rights to The Fantastic Four were about to expire, to avoid this he commissioned Roger Corman to make a film (The Fantastic Four (1994)) as quickly as possible so he could keep hold of the rights. This was mainly to thwart Chris Columbus who was after the rights at the same time. Corman's version only cost $2 million, neither him or his cast and crew knew that the film was dumper-bound. It has however been seen in bootleg and download versions, with the general critical consensus being that it was a terrible movie.
To get through the long arduous make-up, Michael Chiklis spent the time in the make-up chair watching the Boston Red Sox, his favorite team, who happened to be breaking the "Curse of the Bambino" winning their first World Series since 1918.
The machine Reed constructs that recreates the storm and restore them to normal is influenced by the Telepods from "The Fly (1986)." The film is about a scientist who undergoes a genetic mutation, when an experiment goes wrong.
(at around 1h 14 mins) When Johnny holds up a Thing toy (it says the "Clobberin' Time" line), it's a figure from Toy Biz's 2002 line of "Marvel Legends" action figures, a line of highly-detailed toys based on various characters from "Marvel Comics." The particular figure shown is from the second wave released, and was packaged with a reprint of "Fantastic Four" (volume one), #263.
It was Julian McMahon's idea inspired by his role on Nip/Tuck (2003) to have Victor's scars sealed by surgical staples.
George Clooney and Brendan Fraser were considered for the part of Mr. Fantastic
The screenplay had to be extensively retooled after The Incredibles (2004) came out as many of the latter's jokes were making fun of things that already existed in the Fantastic Four (2005) script.
A decade after the film was released, the film was rebooted because Jessica Alba decided not to do another "Fantastic Four" film and Chris Evans had moved on to play another Marvel comic book hero Captain America. Fantastic Four (2015), which starred Miles Teller as Reed Richards, Kate Mara as Susan Storm, Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm and Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm, was a darker retelling of the "Fantastic Four" story and failed at the box office.
(at around 53 mins) Just after Victor throws his doctor into the X-Ray light, we see Reed writing on the board: "[H3O+][NO2-]/[HNO2]". This is the Acid-Dissociation Equilibrium (Ka) expression for nitrous acid (HNO2).
Ali Larter, Julia Stiles, Kate Bosworth, Rachel McAdams, Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Banks, KaDee Strickland and Trish Stratus were considered for the role of Susan Storm/Invisible Woman.
In 2003, Peyton Reed pitched a Fantastic Four film to Fox, describing it as "A Hard Day's Night (1964) with superheroes." The proposed cast was Alexis Denisof as Reed Richards, Charlize Theron as Sue Storm, Paul Walker as Johnny Storm, John C. Reilly as Ben Grimm, and Jude Law as Dr. Doom.
The action sequence on the Brooklyn Bridge was shot using a 200-foot set erected against a blue screen in a Vancouver parking lot and then later enhanced with CGI views of Manhattan.
James Gandolfini and David Boreanaz were considered for the role of Ben Grimm/The Thing.
WILHELM SCREAM: used at least twice during the last fight of the film. Once as the bus is thrown, and then again shortly after.
Tim Story had to ask his wife's permission if he could make the film as they were expecting a baby at the time.
Michael Chiklis' wife called into the set one time without announcing she was coming. She saw her husband in full make-up as The Thing and was so distressed by what she saw that she had to be physically escorted from the set in order to compose herself.
Jessica Alba met future husband Cash Warren on the set of this movie. Cash was the assistant to the film's director Tim Story.
(at around 12 mins) When Victor is proposing to Sue in the spaceship he says he has "four little words that will change their lives forever". Right after he says it, Reed bursts into the room saying "The cloud is accelerating" referring to the deadly cosmic storm they were observing; exactly four words that did change their lives, they received superpowers as a result of the storm.
This was the third superhero movie to be released in 2005. The first two were Elektra (2005) and Batman Begins (2005).
Laurie Holden, who plays the fiancée of Michael Chiklis's character Ben Grimm, would later appear alongside Chiklis in the final season of his TV series The Shield (2002).
When Chris Columbus was attached, he wanted real couple Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan to play Reed Richards and Sue Storm.
Steven Soderbergh and Sean Astin were both interested in directing.
The script was developed for over ten years. The final writer was Simon Kinberg, who worked on the movie throughout its production.
This feature is included in the first wave of Blu-Ray releases by Fox. A total of five movies were included in this initial wave. The others were Ice Age (2002), Behind Enemy Lines (2001), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) and Kiss of the Dragon (2001).
Victor Von Doom's loyal assistant Leonard, who comes across as mildly "prissy" and effeminate but is fanatically and murderously obedient to his boss, is likely named after a very similar character in North by Northwest (1959).
(at around 1h 35 mins) Jessica Alba wore a Star of David when Mr. Fantastic proposes to her.
Patrick Wilson auditioned for a role in this film.
Mel Gibson was considered for the part of Dr Doom.
When Sean Astin wanted to do a film version of Fantastic Four, he wanted either Cameron Diaz or Christina Aguilera for the role of Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman.
Reed's smart phone, which he uses to control the holographic presentation at the beginning of the movie, is a Samsung SPH-i700 on Verizon. Verizon was a marketing partner for the film.
"20th Century Fox" hired director Tim Story after his ensemble work on "Barbershop (2002)" and "Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004)."
(at around 45 mins) While Sue Storm is unpacking in the Baxter Building, in the background a signed photo of the band Devo can be seen.
When Peyton Reed was attached as the director, Renée Zellweger was considered for the Sue Storm/Invisible Woman role.
The Thing's sitting position on an edge of the Brooklyn Bridge is the nod to the sculpture "The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin.
Peter Segal was attached to direct the film at one point.
At one point, Roland Emmerich was asked to direct the film, but he was turned down so Tim Story was hired instead.
Lee Tamahori was also considered to direct, but he turned down to make xXx: State of the Union (2005) instead.
(at around 23 mins) The wine Reed and Sue are drinking in the dinner scene when their powers emerge is Robert Mondovi Sauvignon Blanc.
Chris Evans appeared in Snowpiercer (2013) with Jamie Bell, who would go on to play Ben Grimm in the 2015 version Fantastic Four (2015).
Cameo
Stan Lee: (at around 43 mins) Although Lee has made cameos in many Marvel movies, this is the first time he has played a character from the comics: Willy Lumpkin, the Fantastic Four's kindly old mailman. His line was supposed to be, "Welcome home, Dr. Richards," but he changed it to, "Welcome back to the Baxter Building, Doctor Richards!"
Ralph Winter: (at around 1h 35 mins) the film's producer, playing the construction worker at the end of the film who closes the container door on Dr. Doom.
Richard Ho: one of Wizard magazine's staff writers, appears as one of the reporters in front of the Baxter Building in a crowd sequence. Wizard is one of the most successful and popular magazines about the comics business.
Spoilers
In the very last scene of the film, the frozen Dr. Doom is being shipped on a cargo vessel with the word "Latveria" on the stern. In the Marvel Universe, Latveria is a primitive, backward country (apparently a mash-up of Latvia and Liechtenstein), where Dr. Doom was born, and where he later becomes head of state.
In the film, Doctor Doom is part of the Richards expedition that grants the Four superpowers. This did not happen in the original Marvel comics (there it was a lab accident of Doom's own doing), but was incorporated into the Marvel Ultimates comics (an expedition to another realm grants Doom and the Four superpowers).
(at around 1h 3 mins) Outside the Motocross arena, the surrounding advertising helps tell the story. As Ben hurls Johnny, flaming, into a Burger King sign, the sign reads, "Fire Grilled Perfection". As the fight progresses, we see SoBe "Adrenaline Rush"...and finally, the super hero's top rule against killing is represented by Mountain Dew Code Red..."Live By the Code".
(at around 1h 35 mins) The name of the "Latverian" ship in the final shot means misspelled "toE head" instead of "toW head" in Russian.
