Fans have been waiting for Marvel’s first family to make their appearance. Now, with Fantastic Four: The First Steps only a few weeks away, we’re all excited to see what Matt Shakman has in store for us.
A new interview with Empire details some of the behind the scenes moments from filming. One such thing was a rock named Jennifer. Director Matt Shakman was talking about how when it came to The Thing/Ben Grimm (played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach), they wanted to use a rock to see how The Thing would look in different lights. So then went and found on and named her Jennifer.
“We went out to the desert and found a rock that looked exactly how we thought The Thing should look,” Shakman told the outlet, “and we filmed it in every single shot that The Thing appears in in the movie, under every lighting environment.”
Shakman went on though to talk about the amount of people who worked on bringing Ben Grimm to life in First Steps. “It’s a little bit heady to think about all the hundreds of people that are helping animate this character,” he said. “I just had faith that they would make my performance so much cooler. I’m very, very happy with the way Ben looks.”
A humanity to The Thing
In the piece by Empire, Moss-Bachrach spoke about playing Ben. Fans know him for his work as Cousin on The Bear and playing a part like The Thing is a different beast entirely. But what is really fascinating about his approach to the Thing is that he relates it back to Jack Kirby’s creation. And not just the comic-backing that Ben has.
In the Empire piece, Moss-Bachrach shared that what makes the Thing work is how Kirby crafted the character. “He’s a Lower East Side guy,” Moss-Bachrach told the publication. “A lot of this character was a homage to his father, and that, to me, is very meaningful.”
Anyone else get emotional reading that? To me, Ben Grimm is an emotional character. He’s someone who didn’t get a flashy new power like the rest of the Fantastic Four. Ben is forever someone who now looks like a rock. Yes, he’s strong and powerful but he lost something of himself when they got their powers and that’s something really interesting to dive into.
Moss-Bachrach is one of my favorite performers working today and to get to see him shine as Ben is going to be wonderful. But also this just made me cry so maybe I’m in for some emotional turmoil.
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
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