Ioan Gruffudd Talks "Fantastic Four"

Dan Lalonde
16 hours ago
3 min read

Which of Chris Evans' Marvel roles do you prefer, Johnny Storm or Captain America? Where's Dean Cain when you need an answer?

Ioan Gruffudd, who played Reed Richards in 2005's 'Fantastic Four,' and in 2007's 'Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,' in an interview with Vulture talked about the franchise and why there was no third film.

"The mind-set was that we were going to do three, and I think the second movie was equally successful as the first and equally enjoyable for the fans. I particularly loved working with Doug Jones [as the Silver Surfer] on that movie, who’s just a terrific artist and an expert in the field of movement. If you want to witness somebody bringing a character to life physically, he’s just untouchable. So there was definitely that sort of momentum, and the plan was to do three movies, but these decisions are beyond my control."

He also talked about the famous deleted scene where he turned into Wolverine.

"I don’t know why that didn’t make it into the film. Paying homage to the great Hugh Jackman was quite a thrill because I absolutely love him as an actor and his Wolverine. I’m glad that it has a chance to exist somewhere. That was a reshoot, and I was in Vancouver on a soundstage and Jessica was in New York, so we weren’t actually together, but we look perfectly in sync."

Gruffudd reminisced about how they filmed his stretching scenes.

"We had terrific sets built, and that’s always a thrill for me as an actor when you have a tangible set behind you, like their home and office at the top of the Baxter Building, that was an enormous two-tiered set. And the Fantasticar was a real build, we were in the car on a gimbal, with wind machines, and so at least we had that aspect of it. Technology has come such a long way in 20 years, and there was a lot of waiting around while these things were set up. I get asked how we did the part where I was frozen, and there was obviously white makeup to get that effect, but they sprayed me with candle wax so I had that tangible look on my skin."

"I had to use my imagination for the stretching. I choreographed very, very specifically with certain camera movements. I was often standing with my arm behind my back because it was easier for them to digitally build the arm from the suit than it was to erase my hand. So there were some comical moments where you were thinking to yourself that this is the strangest thing ever, like, I didn’t imagine studying this at drama school."

He finished talking about the chances of seeing him again in the role.

"I’m not in the new movie. Fans are convinced that I’m going to be in a particular aspect of this universe that hasn’t been written or filmed yet. But this idea of people showing up has been introduced, like Chris in Deadpool, or I think Mister Fantastic appeared in the guise of John Krasinski at one point. So, no, I haven’t been approached to reprise Mister Fantastic. But you never know."

How do you rank him on the list of Reed Richards? Comment below with your thoughts.