It's well established that the main villain of The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be the gigantic Galactus, who is big enough to devour the lifeforce of entire planets. Played by Ralph Ineson, Galactus was added to the film through motion capture, as one might expect. But rather than stopping there, the film's production team actually built a full, practical Galactus suit to aid in making the character look as real as possible while dwarfing everything else onscreen.
"I didn't want to just use motion-capture for Galactus. I wanted to actually have someone there embodying the part," The Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman tells Entertainment Weekly. "So we've built an entire costume for him, and we've done a lot of photography testing to figure out, how do you make sure that the scale is correct? How do you film Mount Rushmore?"
Indeed, how do you ensure that a cosmic being like Galactus who is hundreds of feet tall looks seamless alongside normal, human-sized characters and environments, while also maintaining the outward, physical humanity that is so important to his character?
The idea that there was an actual, physical, practical Galactus suit is exciting to me, as someone who, like many genre fans, has become more and more delighted to see actual real life objects and costumes in superhero movies again. And it fits with Shakman's own ethos for the production, which he previously compared to how acclaimed auteur director Stanley Kubrick would have worked in 1965, the era contemporary to the mid-'60s period in which the film is set.
That's all the more reason I can't wait to see Fantastic Four, which is looking more and more like the creative shot-in-the-arm that the MCU has been needing for some time now.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is due out in theaters on July 25 to kick off Marvel Phase 6. In the meantime, get up to speed with our guide to all the other upcoming superhero movies still to come from both Marvel and DC.
