The Fantastic Four

[Jedi Master Carr]

I don't know but I this movie might suck

Studio has signed Michael Chiklis to play Ben Grimm/the Thing, Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic and Chris Evans as Johnny Storm/the Human Torch. And Jessica Alba, currently shooting Dimension's "Sin City," has emerged as most likely to play Sue Richards/the Invisible Woman, though Rachel MacAdams and Keri Russell are also candidates.

"We see 'Fantastic Four' as the last great jewel in the comicbook crown," said Fox production prexy Hutch Parker. "The casting has been extremely important in terms of fulfilling expectations of an audience that's been incredibly loyal to these characters for over 40 years."

The trade adds that the $85 million-$90 million film, directed by Tim Story, is headed for an August or September start in Vancouver. The planned release date is July 1, 2005, when it will face off against Paramount's "Mission: Impossible 3." The script was written by Simon Kinberg.


We got nobodies in the cast, they might be good actors but still. Unless they get somebody big for Doom, which I guess they might, there were rumors Jason Issacs was up for the role, he would work, IMO. if they cast a two bit actor for that part I will personally boycott this movie.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Jessica Alba is not quite a nobody - after playing Dark Angel she's probably the most qualified out of the other females you listed.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well I don't think she is a great actress :p but hey that is my opinion. I just wanted to see a big name in the cast because its going to need one the F4 aren't that well known if it it can't get a big name it could be a huge bomb for Fox, IMO.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

:eek Who doesn't know of the Fantastic Four??

[ReaperFett]

Spider-Man didn't need names.


The three male parts are basically confirmed everywhere, but every site seems to say a different Sue :)

So far, got to say I'm chuffed with the picks. Chilkis IS Thing, I've wanted him for this since watching the Shield. Evans definately looks the part, and Gruffudd looks a very convincing Reed.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I know a lot of people who don't, they are not a big name comic, they would rank way below Spiderman, X-Men, Batman, and Superman. I'd say Captain America is more famous. Still if they cast a nobody for Doom I will be mad, he is my favorite character in Marvel and if they ruin him I will not be happy. If they cast Issacs I would be happy he could actually make the character work.

[ReaperFett]

I think Doom will be a name. Means they can have someone to sell with.


Rumoured people include Tim Robbins and David Boreanaz.



BTW, Isaacs is in Elektra, a small part :)

[Jedi Master Carr]

Please god not Boreanaz he is no name, he is a nobody. And Robbins hasn't been heard about in ages. Issacs just has a cameo in Electra I am sure he could still play Doom. If its Boreanaz I swear I won't see this film, it will be as bad as the B movie version they made just with better effects.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

*cough* Angel fans everwhere disagree with you. :p

[Jedi Master Carr]

Angel fans are not the majority of movie goers, though, still he has been in nothing else and how does Angel give him the ability to play the greatest villain in Marvel comics? They need an actor of Mckellan's stature, Isscas fits for this, IMO.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

He was in Valentine. :p

[Jedi Master Carr]

Heh never seen that isn't that a crappy horror film??? I seriously doubt they will cast him, I read that rumor on the Superhero message board but the guy gave no source which tells me its fake. The Issac rumor was from Aintitcool news. And the Robbins report goes back a while but was still with a real source. I just can't see Fox making this movie without one big name in it. Now sure Issacs isn't a huge name but at this point he would probably be the biggest star of the 5. (he has been in several box office hits including Harry Potter, The Patriot, and Armageddeon) And he has proven he can play a great Villain, watch him in Chamber of secerts the main just looks evil in that part.

[ReaperFett]

But Isaacs isn't a name either. Seriously, how many people would go to the cinema because of him?



My only real regret is because they picked small names, we could have had Alexis Denisof as Reed :\

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well I said that but he is a bigger actor than the guy from Angel and is a proven villain actor. You need somebody who can play a villain and Issacs does do that very well. Now I could live with somebody like Robbins, he is a talented actor and I wouldn't have a problem with him. I would like to see Jude Law now he would be a name, but would he even do it??

[ReaperFett]

I don't see why he wouldn't. It isn't a role that could stigmatise him like Superman.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Thats true, he would make a great Doom, IMO.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Ugg, they have confirmed Jessica Alba is going to be Sue Storm, that is horrible, I have seen trees who can act better than her.

[JMK]

Well this isn't surprising. They were going to go with a young, attractive girl with this role...having someone that actually resembled Sue Storm wasn't going to happen. Still, I'd prefer Alba to Christina Milian who was strongly rumored for a while.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well there were some young blonde actresses that they were looking like Kate Bosworth and Rachel Mcadams both would have been better choices. I am waiting for the choice for Doom, if they mess that up I am going to completely skip this movie.

[ReaperFett]

Has Alba been confirmed by anyone official?

[Razielle Shadana]

I hate Alba, that'll wreck it for me.

-boo hiss-

Must have Doom though, MUST!

[JMK]

Originally posted by ReaperFett
Has Alba been confirmed by anyone official?

I'm not sure, it doesn't sound completely official.

[Jedi Master Carr]

It is the Hollywood Reporter confirmed it today, unless they were lied to, I guess we could hope. Variety hasn't said anything yet and usually they will say it. In other news ain it cool news is saying Ray Liotta is going to Doom. Now I could live with that, he is a very good actor although I am not certain he could pull it off. But I call that far from official as ain it cool news is 50-50 at best these days.

[Marcus Telcontar]

AICN is a good deal worse than 50-50. IMO, it's part of the garbage pit of the Internet.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah I think you are right, they have gotten worse at predicting things. Look at the Aprils fools joke that Lucasfilm was doing and they took it to be the actual title. And then the toy batmobile they thought was the real one. They have lost all credibility now.

[ReaperFett]

Originally posted by Jedi Master Carr
and the F4 has the makings of a major bomb

3 just about perfect actors and Alba, by no means the look of a bomb. Remember, Jackman wasn't short and hairy, he was hardly a poor Wolverine.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I don't know you got two unknowns one TV actor and an actress who can't act, I be very worried. The F4 isn't that well known to stand on its own, I know a lot of people who have never heard of it. And Batman Begins comes out first it will look like the best comic book film of all time and the F4 will come out and fall on its face. Unless the trailers blow me away I just don't see the F4 doing that well, you have a director who has no experience in action films, and the Marvel guy Avid saying its a comedy, heck it could be since Story has done mostly comdies it is just worrying I don't have much hope for that project. And X-Men is a bit different Stewart, Mckellan, Hallie Berry and Anna Paquin were all well know, heck there were two oscar nods between them with Paquin actually winning one. There are no oscar nods here unless the actor playing Doom has one.

[ReaperFett]

But Jackman had nothing, and look how he turned out.

And reguarding the comedy comment. Comedy is a wide genre, encompassing many movies depending on a persons POV. Armageddon could be a comedy, same for SPider-Man 2. And the F4 to me HAS to have comedy, that is part of it.

And I will repeat to myself because it's true. Chilkis IS Thing. Period, end, stop the competition :) :D

[Jedi Master Carr]

I know but the cast just doesn't do it for me. And then they bring in a Catwoman writer to do the rewrite I mean that smells bad. Look at Batman look at the cast they have developed there, WB actually cares about Batman putting a big cast and spending the money to make it a blockbuster. The F4 looks really low budget and I felt this projected needed a big star because honestly the F-4 isn't even half as popular as X-Men and Spiderman and without big stars the project will suffer.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I decided to merge this discussion there was no point we were getting way off topic.

[JMK]

Originally posted by ReaperFett
But Jackman had nothing, and look how he turned out.


I think that's a very valid point, BUT Wolverine is pretty much an icon to comic geeks. Whoever played Wolverine would have had to be god awful not to be loved by fans. I read a zillion comics as a kid, but the F4 were not one of them. At this early stage of F4, I don't see too many reasons for hope. Hopefully I'm wrong, but Dr Doom will be the lynch pin that makes this movie go.

[Jedi Master Carr]

At this stage they will have to cast somebody big as Doom to really help this movie. One person they could cast, although he might be busy, is Johnny Deep, now that would be a big name. He might not do it, but heck he did that piece of junk Secert Window recently, this is got to be better than that movie. If they cast Liotta, the project is going in the wrong direction, though, the man isn't really good at villians, sure he is good at playing moronic jerks but Doom isn't that. If they want to cast somebody older they should cast Jermey Irons at least he has the stature to play the role, and I am sure he would probably take it.

[Malcolm Trippen]

I think is a case of "We've been planning F4 since 1995. Lets get the dang thing made already."

With the "people won't go and see it" thing...they just need to word the trailers and ads correctly. I mean, sure, people have heard of the Hulk, but they didn't exactly have a famous cast. All they need to do is say "From the creators of <insert successful Marvel comic film> comes another Marvel movie: The Fantastic Four!" or something like that. Also, by casting Jessica Alba, you're gonna draw in a lot of sci-fi fans...they'll go to see "Dark Angel" in the cinema. Its not just big names that make people go and see films. Good films make people go and see films. Good trailers that "wow" the audience make people go and see films. If they market it right, people will go and see it.

Quick example...League of Extrodinary Gentlemen. From the trailers, it looked alright. It had Sean Conery in. But a friend went to see it, said it was pants, so I didn't bother.

Fantastic Four will do fine, even if it has to use the other Marvel movies as a crutch.

[Jedieb]

The 4 mains have always made F-4 prohibitively expensive. That's one of the things that's kept it on the shelf so long. They're classic Marvel characters and they've been around since the early days, but they never crossed over the way Spiderman or the Hulk did. I can see F-4 get stuck around the $100M mark and not go much farther. Decent, but not multiple sequel inducing B.O. Especially not with the budget it demands.

As for Alba, sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. :evil

[Jedi Master Carr]

Actually, I think it shows how hard the F4 is, it is just difficult. I think Captain America and Iron Man would be easier honestly. I don't think I have given up completely with the film but the trailers are just going to have wow me right now, or they pick Irons or Issacs to play Doom that might do it for me.

[Alex]

As for Alba, sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. :evil

My sentiments exactly. :D Two hours sat staring in a cinema? I can cope with that...;)

Actually, Fantastic Four (in the cartoons at least) got crossed over quite a lot. I never read much of the actual comics, but I used to watch the cartoons religiously. Spiderman was good friends with Johnny (Human torch). Bruce Banner was friends with mr stretch-o, but the Hulk was an unofficial enemy of Thing - they had a few fights and such. The she-Hulk (Bruce's cousin) had a thing for the Thing. In the Madamme Web saga, Spiderman called all 4 members of Fantastic Four to join him in his little battlegame thing, plus Captain America and two of the X-Men (Storm and Wolverine, I think). I'm pretty sure F4 was set in New York, just like X-Men, Daredevil and Spiderman. The Silver Surfer was in F4...I think he had his own spin-off series afterwards. And, from one of the actual comics I've read, I remember Spiderman in a Fantastic Four uniform, but with a paper bag over his head. So okay, F4 didn't get crossed over like Spiderman and the Hulk...it was the thing they crossed over with.

I'd disagree with the "it won't get past $100M" assessment. It might only get that far in the States, but F4 (with people I know, at least) is fairly popular over here in the UK. And its gonna draw in Marvel fans, as well as pure F4 fans. Myself and a few other people have been to see all of the Marvel ones so far - aside from the Hulk, which was a little iffy, we've not been properly disappointed yet. Mind you, Hulk was worth it to see a tank used as a club against another tank. I haven't seen Spidey 2 yet, but I'm 100% certain I'll like that.

I'm pretty sure people will go to see F4...that shouldn't be a problem. Whether or not the film will be any good however, is down to the actors, and the production team.

[JMK]

Originally posted by Alex
My sentiments exactly. :D Two hours sat staring in a cinema? I can cope with that...;)

Don't forget, she IS going to be invisible. :p

[Alex]

Oh, yeah. I forgot. Sorry, I was thinking it was just her clothes...

[ReaperFett]

Originally posted by Jedi Master Carr
Actually, I think it shows how hard the F4 is, it is just difficult. I think Captain America and Iron Man would be easier honestly.

I have faith in Iron Man because I know a bit about this. Cruise, Depp or Crowe.