'Fantastic Four' Producer Affirms Sue Storm Is Leader Of The Fantastic Four
Grant Curtis, one of the producers on the upcoming Fantastic Four: First Steps affirmed that Sue Storm is the leader of the Fantastic Four in the film.
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In a lengthy interview with Collider, Curtis stated, “If you do go back through the comics, you realize that Sue Storm is arguably the leader of the Fantastic Four, because without Sue Storm, everything falls apart.”
Additionally, it was implied that Sue is the main protagonist of the film. Collider’s Emma Kiely wrote, “While not naming the past films directly, Curtis does recognize the need for better characterization for women in these films.” She then quoted Curtis who stated, “We had the desire to date aesthetically, but in terms of character and treatment, who should be front and center, it's like, hey, let's tell the best story possible.”
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Actress Vanessa Kirby, who plays Sue Storm, also discussed the relationship between her character and Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards. She said, “I've never had a male actor as a counterpart who's been so utterly equal and supportive of the relationship, but also the female character opposite him. I just feel so grateful every day to have an actor like Pedro who is so generous.”
Pascal, for his part, added, “I love being led in a way. What you may identify as generosity for me, it just isn't. I'm only inspired by… I guess just powerful women have been the thing that has gotten me through being alive. So, to have the opportunity to stand by one, to learn from one — just a partner, it's partnership; it’s male and female, but it's also just a kind of transcendent sort of partnership in the work and in the characters. And, so I don't really know what the f**k I'm gonna do without you [Vanessa] honestly.”
Curtis’ comments come in the wake of Director Matt Shakman’s who describe Sue Storm Storm to Empire as “essentially the Secretary-General of the UN.” He also described her as an “inspiring idealistic, leader of what the Fantastic Four represents, as she is in some of the later comic runs.”
Kirby also informed Entertainment Weekly that the film would explore gender politics. She said, “If you played an exact '60s Sue today, everyone would think she was a bit of a doormat. So figuring out how to capture the essence of what she represented to each generation, where the gender politics were different, and embody that today, was one of the greatest joys of this."
Kirby also added in the interview, “One of the things I love most from Sue's history is when she becomes Malice, and all her dark stuff comes out. I was obsessed with that chapter of her life. So I wanted to make sure that there were tones of Malice in there with her, that she wasn't just the stereotype of a goody, sweet mother."
“I've always been really interested in the mess of femininity, and how can you be both? How can you be all the things? Not just the tough, invincible, powerful woman, but also a mother who gives birth, which is itself a superhero act,” she continued. “I love that these characters are real humans in a messy family who argue and try to work it out and get things wrong."
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The film has also sex-swapped Silver Surfer with actress Julia Garner playing the character. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Garner shared that she was surprised she was cast as a sex-swapped Silver Surfer given she knew the character was male. “We met up at some restaurant in Burbank or something, I don't even remember, but I knew it was for the Fantastic Four,” Garner shared. “And then I was confused because I was like, ‘Wait, isn't the Silver Surfer a man?’ I was just like, ‘Okay, well, I'll play anything.’"
Garner also claimed that the movie was going to be different than other movies, but that her character was literally just a sex-swapped Norrin Radd. She said, “I knew who the Silver Surfer was, and I got to know the Silver Surfer more when I signed on to the project. I really dived in. I read a lot of the Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer comics before starting the project, and I knew that this Fantastic Four was going to be told in a very different way than even the other movies.”
As for her character Shalla-Bal she shared, “She is the herald of Galactus, so she works for Galactus, but you're not sure where she stands. Does she stand with her boss, or is she just doing what she's told? She has this mysterious energy about her, and slowly that mystery will get solved with the audience throughout watching it.”
When specifically asked what was different from other live-action Silver Surfers she said, “What makes this version different is that the movie is just different. First of all, I'm a woman, so that's already different, and that hasn't been told before. This Silver Surfer feels more mysterious in a way, even how it was written, than the other ones. Also, just the world feels so different with the 1960s retro futurism going on. The audience is going to get a completely different experience with this movie, so they'll have a clean palette.”
What do you make of Curtis’ comments about Sue Storm?