Jessica Alba as the 'super" Sue Storm in The Fantastic Four. Photo copyright of 20th Century Fox.
In today's Sci-Fi Blast From The Past, actress Jessica Alba discusses her superheroine role of Sue Storm, a member of The Fantastic Four.
In 2000, Jessica Alba made her debut as Max, a genetically-enhanced human soldier prototype in the Fox Network TV series Dark Angel. For two years, Max kicked the asses of her former military handlers as she tried to avoid recapture. At the same time, she fought to reunite with those who were like her and make a better world for them all. Fans of Alba and Dark Angel will be pleased to know that she plays an equally strong-willed and yet compassionate heroine in The Fantastic Four.
“I love my role of Sue Storm,” enthuses the actress. “When I first sat down with our director, Tim Story, to read for the part I was very opinionated as to how I felt the character should be played. I didn’t want Sue to be a wallflower or some passive, sweet little thing. I saw her as being incredibly sophisticated and together as well as intelligent, conservative and, above all, maternal.
“So I was genuinely excited about the potential of the character. At one point, though, I didn’t think I’d get to play her. I was offered another movie at the same time they were casting for The Fantastic Four. It had been a while since I’d heard anything from them about Sue Storm and I knew that there were other actresses being considered for the role. I figured they were going with someone else and thought, ‘That’s OK, I’ll just do this other project.’ That’s when I received a phone call telling me they were serious about wanting me to do The Fantastic Four and I was thrilled.”
The script for The Fantastic Four feature, which was written by Michael France and Mark Frost, was what initially attracted Alba to the project. When the actress arrived on set in Vancouver and began working on the film, she was further impressed by how the story was being told. “I felt like I was part of this gigantic storytelling machine, or should I say a very, very small part of it,” notes Alba. “As much impact as my little narcissistic self can ever think that I have on something, I knew that this movie was a hell of a lot bigger than me, and I think all us actors felt the same. I mean, it was just daunting standing on two-thirds of a Brooklyn Bridge set in Canada. How do you pull off something like that and do it so convincingly? I don’t know, but they did.
“So this movie is a big deal and I kept that in mind during the entire shoot. I give 200% when I’m hired to do something, and this project made me want to give even more of myself if you can believe it. There are such devout fans of The Fantastic Four, and Fox Studios has done doing everything in its power to make this film an incredible one. They’ve spared no expense and used every penny in the right way. For example, the special effects people from The Matrix movies also worked on The Fantastic Four, and there was a different special effects artist for each of our characters. The work was so intense, and there was lots of talk about that before we even went to Vancouver. However, once I was there I thought, ‘Now I really need to bring the goods to the table. I have to show the people who go see this movie why I was chosen to be in it.’”
Part of what puts the “fantastic” into The Fantastic Four is each of the teammate’s unique abilities. Sue Storm’s powers include that of invisibility and being able to turn others invisible as well as the capability to project force fields, all of which are tied into her emotions. That proved a challenge for Alba. “A scene that would typically take a day to shoot would, instead, take us two or maybe three days because of the special effects,” says the actress. “With my character, it was always when Sue was frustrated, embarrassed, angry, etc., that she would go invisible, so it was at the peak of an emotion. Imagine having a row with your significant other and having to maintain that peak for longer than a day,” she laughs. “That’s exhausting and not easy to do, but I relished those opportunities as they really tested me as an actress.
“There’s a neat scene in Reed Richards’s [Ioan Gruffudd] lab where he and Sue are having their first real confrontation. I should preface this by saying that in the film we sort of skate around the issue that the two of them used to be an item. However, in this instance, Reed decides to open it up for conversation. Well, Sue just lets him have it and accidentally throws a force field at him and it pushes him backwards. She gave her heart to this man and he just walked away and she doesn’t know why. My character is feeling angry and completely betrayed, and as an actress I enjoyed the challenge of having to maintain that emotional peak over two days.”
The actress took a page out of real life when it came to developing her onscreen relationship with Sue’s brother, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans). “I have a brother who’s a year younger than me, and the dynamic of our relationship is not unlike Sue’s and Johnny’s,” explains Alba. “My character is always reprimanding Johnny and telling him, ‘Hey, straighten up,’ because he’s behaving like a little boy. Growing up, my brother and I would sometimes have similar exchanges, so I could totally relate to The Storms’ sibling banter,” she chuckles.
“Can you tell I had a great time being one of The Fantastic Four?”
Steve Eramo
As noted above, photo copyright of 20th Century Fox, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
Comments