Jamie Bell and Kate Mara have made no secret that they’re not fans of their “Fantastic Four” movie, but that doesn’t mean they’re not looking forward to the upcoming reboot.
“We’re excited,” Mara, who played Sue Storm/Invisible Woman in the 2015 Fox adaptation of the comic book with Bell playing Ben Grimm/The Thing, told me at Giorgio Armani’s Mare pop-up party at Soho House’s Little Malibu Beach House on Tuesday. “It’s a great cast.”
The new movie, the first made under the Marvel umbrella, stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby Sue Storm/Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/Thing. The cast also includes Ralph Ineson, Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne and Julia Garner.
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Bell joked that it shouldn’t be called a reboot of their movie. “It doesn’t feel like a reboot to me because to reboot something it had to have been something. Unfortunately, our film doesn’t exist in any particular canon.”
But then he quickly added, “It does exist in one particular canon, which is the not very good canon.”
The 2015 movie, which also starred Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan and was directed by Josh Trank, was released with high expectations and fanfare but bombed with critics and at the box office.
I asked Mara and Bell if there’s a chance that they could pop up in the new installment. They quickly shook their heads and laughed. “Maybe we can try to enter through some multiverse door,” Bell said, smiling. “But when they see us, they quickly close the door.”
The new installment, directed by Matt Shakman, will take place in 1960s New York City. Shooting begins later this year with a release date set for July 25, 2025.
Meanwhile, Bell said he still hopes to make his Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie, “Fred & Ginger.” The film, which was first announced in December 2020 and will star Bell and Margaret Qualley in the titular roles, will chronicle the couple’s life on screen and behind the camera.
“We have some great people in some good slots,” Bell said. “It’s about finding windows and scheduling.”
And getting his dance moves right. Bell says he’s not stressing about tap because he studied the style in dancing school. “The ballroom stuff is going to be tricky because it’s very specific,” he said. “I wasn’t taught that.”
For Bell, his fascination with Astaire was his quest for “perfection.” “What makes his life interesting?” Bell said. “It’s always just about the pursuit of something that is perfect. And how hard that is? It’s not just him, right? He has to a dance with a partner. How complicated is that? Everyone would ask him, ‘Who was your favorite dance partner?’ There’s no question his partnership with Ginger was the most successful but how fucked up is that?”
Max Minghella, a producer on “Fred & Ginger” who was also at the Armani party said, “We love that project. We’re dying to make it and I think we will.”
Another Astaire movie, about his relationship with his sister Adele, was announced in 2021 with Tom Holland attached to star.
