The Fantastic Four: First Steps delves into themes of found family, with ‘combination of domesticity and the intergalactic cosmos’
One moment, they’re having family dinners in the comfort of their home, and the next, they’re off fighting cosmic forces in outer space — a typical affair for the superhero family Fantastic Four.
AsiaOne recently attended the virtual press conference for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, a film based on the Marvel Comics characters.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) 37th film is set in a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, where a superhero family comprising of Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), is forced to defend Earth from a ravenous space god Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). In doing so, the quartet must balance their roles as heroes and public figures with the strength of their family bond.
At the press conference, each cast member shared their own way of breaking into the soles of their characters that have spanned six decades.
Pregnant superhero in space
In this version of The Fantastic Four, Sue carries out her superhero duties as Invisible Woman with her first baby on the way. On what excited Vanessa most about playing the heroine, the 37-year-old said: “To me, it always seemed kind of revolutionary to have this mother at the centre of this family, but also be absolutely part of the team, never left at home on her own.”
Vanessa added: “When I met Matt (Shakman, director) and Kevin (Feige, producer) for the first time and started talking about Sue, I was already so passionate about her. The idea of having a pregnant superhero, this working mother, excited me so much. And even while shooting it, it was surreal because I had this pregnancy bump.
“But I was so included in everything, and I was so [touched] — Matt and Kevin were such huge champions of having her be as complex and fierce as she is loving and warm, and all the things that I think femininity really is.”
In the film, many scenes depict Sue and her husband Reed navigating parenthood together, as well as domestic scenes of all the four heroes together at home.
With Sue written to represent the current generation, the theme of parenthood was rooted in her character. She elaborated: “I always think that the very DNA of projects reflects the experiences that you have.
“The Fantastic Four: First Steps was such a combination of domesticity where Reed would be smelling Sue’s socks, or Sue would be brushing her teeth – and then we’d be in the intergalatic epic cosmos, you know?
“So I think Matt was so clear about that being at the heart of the comics, as well as wanting to tell a story about two parents and the fears they have when their baby is coming along.”
‘Holding on to his humanity’
Lauded as a brilliant inventor, astronaut and explorer, Reed also doubles up as Mister Fantastic, with the superpower to stretch every part of his body. However, it is this same intelligence that “isolates” him not just from the world, but from his own family.
Pedro, 50, shared his views on his character: “The one thing I found anchoring was that someone this smart strangely makes him un-innocent when it comes to human interactions and relationships — in saying the wrong thing or reading the room incorrectly, or finally finding a way to express his burdens.
“[He gets] sort of perplexed by the fact that people aren’t catching on as quickly as he would with how his mind works. He’ll see a thing and be like, ‘Oh, I have to explain it to you’, I’m sorry’. So it was really fun to create idiosyncratic behaviour around that.
“But at the core, my authorship is that he’s incredibly co-dependent, and without his family, he doesn’t know how to function and he’s lost to his own brain. His identity is related utterly to his family and his position in it and protecting them and also being protected by them.”
In contrast, Reed’s best friend Ben harbours issues closer to his heart, after having had his human body transformed into a nearly indestructible rocky being with super strength.
On tapping into his character, Ebon shared: “One undeniable thing about Ben you can’t get around is this state that has been forced down onto him. He has this push-and-pull tension in him, between this monstrous outside and this very human, loyal and kind person on the inside.
“And I think trying to put his inner life out there and be understood — holding on to his humanity — is inherent to this character.”
It was also Ebon’s first time acting with motion capture – the process of recording patterns of movement digitally – which he said was a selling point for him in being a part of the film.
The 48-year-old explained: “I wanted to explore this way of acting and I was hoping it’d be able to free me up. I’m never gonna get to play something like that — this incredibly strong, heavy character.
“I had some anxiety and nerves about it just because it was such a departure for me with its technology. But within a few days, the fears melted away and I found it to be really freeing. I’m in all of the scenes with [the Fantastic Four], we’re looking in each other’s eyes — I’m right there.”
Lightening the mood of the film is Sue’s younger brother Johnny, also known as Human Torch – a fiery adrenaline junkie defined by his flying and fire powers and the thrill of being a hero.
“I think there’s something quite aspirational about Johnny, the way he views space — he’s a bit of a searcher, where he’s always looking for answers. All of these four characters are sentenced to this idea of responsibility and superpowers, having this public-facing life. And I think he’s looking for answers outside of it. In the script, he’s the one who’s very fully-rounded,” said Joseph, 31.
‘Absolutely zero humanity’
In the time leading up to the launch of the film, there has been much talk about the antagonist duo Silver Surfer and Galactus, especially with the unveiling of their character designs in teasers.
Described as a powerful and deeply melancholic character, Julia spoke about Silver Surfer: “[My take on] Silver Surfer was different, because it’s Shalla-Bal (Silver Surfer’s real name) who’s never been portrayed on screen. And while putting my own little twist into her without changing too much, I wanted to respect the fans.”
Matt added: “Her story is so much defined by family as well, and this idea of sacrifice, and these impossible choices that [the Fantastic Four] is being presented with. But what’s so brilliant about Shalla-Bal is that even though she’s the Herald of Galactus and she’s done this [act of telling planets about their imminent destruction] a thousand, million times, there’s still a cost to her personally.
“She tells everyone, ‘Hey, you’re all gonna die’, but there’s this additional part that’s just her and not Galactus, saying, ‘Hold your loved ones close’. There’s a lot going on under that shiny surface.”
The scene of Silver Surfer’s speech heralding the end of Earth has gone viral on social media, with many netizens praising the chilling voice Julia brought to the character.
Acting alongside Julia is Ralph, who stepped into the “rather large shoes” of Galactus. To understand a 14-billion-year-old cosmic being that devours entire planets, the actor-narrator shared some of his preparation work: “My goal was to think away from any kind of humanity and try to imagine this cosmic force that has intelligence beyond human understanding.”
“The way I found to imagine the destructive power of Galactus was through watching lots of YouTube videos of tornadoes, hurricanes and tsunamis, and imagining having that kind of power,” continued the 55-year-old.
“So yeah, it’s a completely different way of approaching a character because they say there is absolutely zero humanity in it. He exists to feed his hunger, to maintain cosmic balance — there is no human malice in him eating planets.”
Conclusively, the cast shared parts of the film they were looking forward to having fans notice on their first watch, with the consensus being the themes of love and family.
Ebon articulated: “There’s an enormous amount of love in this movie — between the characters and the love that Matt and Kevin have for the Fantastic Four franchise, as well as the love the art department has. There’s so much passion that’s gone into making this, down from the tiniest little props to the bigger thematic ideas about parenthood.”
Julia added: “I’m just excited for people to see that it’s really about community and love, and how important family is. Even though the Fantastic Four are all superhumans, they possess that very human element.”
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is now showing in cinemas.
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