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Fantastic Four: The Making Of The Movie by Abbie Bernstein, Bryan Cairns, Tara DiLullo, Anthony Ferrante and David Grove
01/08/2005 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Titan Books. 159 page softcover. Price: £14.99 (UK), $19.95 (US). ISBN: 1-84576-083-2. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out websites: www.titanbooks.com and www.marvel.com
It's been a rather odd week reading this book cos I ended up watching the ITV Making Of The FF movie this weekend as well so ended up matching what I was reading in this book to some of the scenes available. Considering this book not only covers interviews with the cast and production crew but also the shooting script, you do really have everything you need for behind the scenes of the latest film based on characters from the Marvel stable.
As with all first films of comicbook sources, there is much focus on how they got their powers. Considering the FF started in 1961, 4 years into the space race at the time, there was a need to bring it up to current century mentality. In many respects, this looks like a successful experiment and brings Victor Von Doom more into the fold than just begrudging acquaintances at university with Reed Richards.
What is brought out strongly from all the information presented here is the nature of the FF being a slightly dysfunctional family grouping. Having them working against each other, let alone not totally trusting each other's motives worked well in the comics and just as much here. From the dialogue, it also indicates that certain likely questions were covered pertaining all kinds of problems relating to the character's body parts and functions which should help movie-goers and comicbook fans alike.
For the characters themselves, the Human Torch looks like an Alex Ross painting come to life. The Thing is very much like the early version than the latter with the more defined eyebrow ridge but bearing in mind Ben Grimm's mutation evolved over a period, I wouldn't be surprised if he slowly changes in the course of future films. With these two characters working, Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman are relatively easy in comparison. As to Dr. Doom - well, he had to be made more formidable which is sensible or it would look very unfair to otherwise have four fantastic beings smash him down. It's a shame, on one level, that the blind Alicia Masters wasn't kept closer to her comicbook counterpart but I suspect that has more to hitting minority points as much as anything.
As a general reminder that these movie tie-in books are relatively limited to the time the movie and DVD releases, its always best to get it while available. This book covers most of the things you need to know about the film. The only thing really missing is film credits. It's a shame that the artist behind the storyboards isn't credited, especially as he drew them looking like the classic comicbook character versions. These are minor quibbles. There is always a balancing act on how much you can show in books like this against encouraging people to go and see the movie and this one stand up reasonably well to add to your collection.
GF Willmetts
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