Possible SpoilersVancouver Details On FF 2 & AVP 2
plus Tom Rothman, Chairman of Fox, dishes on both
October 2nd 2006 12:51pm | Posted by: Robert Falconer HNR Senior Editor
With both Alien vs. Predator 2 and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer shooting here in town, locals are getting an eyeful of two of 20th Century Fox's current tent-pole franchises.
Most notably, Fantastic Four recently completed shooting scenes at the "Baxter Building" (actually Vancouver's Marine Building, pictured at right) and in the neighborhood of Burrard, Cordova and Hastings Streets in downtown Vancouver, which, just as in the first film, doubled as New York City, replete with police cars marked NYPD, NYC banners strewn on lampposts, and New York area newspaper boxes.
Adjacent to the building's entrance, a "Fantastic Four Fan Store" was set up, all part of the film's plot line, which has been described as thus:
The Fantastic Four meets their greatest challenge yet in "Fantastic Four and The Silver Surfer" as the enigmatic, intergalactic herald, The Silver Surfer, comes to Earth to prepare it for destruction.
As the Silver Surfer races around the globe wreaking havoc, Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben must unravel the mystery of The Silver Surfer and confront the surprising return of their mortal enemy, Dr. Doom, before all hope is lost.
HNR sometimes-photographer, "Donald the Explorer" caught up with the film's star, Ioan Gruffudd on Seymour St. a few days ago, and managed to catch a pic of the Welsh actor. In the photo to the right you can see he is clearly sporting his FF costume underneath.
Meanwhile, for all you Alien vs. Predator fans out there, filming is currently underway on Mount Seymour, just north of Vancouver.
The scenes being shot involve the "hero" attempting to survive a helicopter crash in a spectacular set piece. Filming will continue through Tuesday and Wednesday. (Mt. Seymour last played home to Underworld: Evolution, where the film's opening winter battle scenes were shot).
IESB.net recently sat down to chat with Tom Rothman, Chairman of 20th Century Fox, and in the interview, Rothman talked at length about several of the studio's forthcoming projects, most notably Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Alien vs. Predator 2. In the interview, Rothman described Vancouver as "...sort of a home away from home for us ... we've done a lot of our shows up there." He also had some interesting tidbits about the two (or is that actually three) franchises...
On Fantastic Four 2:
IESB: ...you can’t have the Silver Surfer without Galactus making an appearance at one point or another in the film right?
TR: That’s true.
IESB: Avi has always referred to Galactus as a force of nature.
TR: Yeah.
IESB: Is he going to look like anything like we’ve seen him in the comic books?
TR: Yes, I think that Galactus, look, I don’t want to give away too much, right, but I will say this, Galactus will appear and fans will not be disappointed.
IESB: Do we have multiple villains here? Tim has said we are going to see Doom come back in full Doom gear but Alicia Masters is the daughter of the Puppet Master.
TR: I am very aware of that.
IESB: So, are we going to see any Puppet Master action here?
TR: (laughing) I will neither confirm nor deny, I will not confirm or deny, you got Galactus and Silver Surfer out of me and I am not going to confirm or deny.
IESB: Obviously we know the story line, we know he’s the herald and we know that he eventually comes over to the hero side, are we hoping to see a spin off of the Silver Surfer?
TR: Well, I don’t want to be exuberant, but I will say this, we are investing a tremendous amount of money, time and care, to make the state of the art CGI Silver Surfer, to make him as great as modern technology can make him. And, the only thing that I would say is that the real, the ultimate pay off of that level of investment and doing it to its fullest possible extent, would really come if we are able to make future films. Like any movie, you have to make a really good first one before you should, let’s put it that way, make another one. So, we need to make this movie great and we need to make the Silver Surfer’s debut incredibly dazzling and compelling. But, we’re certainly putting everything that the business has to offer behind it in the hopes of doing that, in the hopes that the Silver Surfer has a long life.
IESB: And traditional look as well? We will see him with a surfboard?
TR: Yes, traditional look, very, very faithful look but it’s, obviously, it’s taking the comic look and giving it a 3D rendering. We have not yet determined what the voice casting will be. We’ve done a lot of work lately with Weta, as I said I saw some absolutely breathtaking shots of Saphira the dragon from Eragon, and even the test work they have done on the Surfer is incredibly cool. I honestly think it’s gonna blow people away but people will be able to judge pretty soon for themselves because I will tell you that the first teaser that we are going to put out of the movie, which will be very early in the new year, the first teaser will definitely reveal the Silver Surfer. So people won’t have long to wait to judge how well it is done.
IESB: So we will see the Silver Surfer the first couple of months of the new year.
TR: Yes, I can’t say exactly and I can’t imagine there would be a whole lot of it right, but, there will be shots of the reveal that will be in the first teaser.
Here's the link,
www.hollywoodnorthreport.com/article.php?Article=3596