John Malkovich says he didn’t know much about The Fantastic Four before signing on for a role in the upcoming reboot of the Marvel franchise.
“I’m sure I read it when I was a kid because I did read comics when I was a kid, but that was a long, long time ago,” the actor told me at the Los Angeles premiere of his new A24 horror thriller “Opus.” “All I really knew about it was that there had been a film or two of it before.”
Malkovich’s role in the movie, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” is being kept under wraps. Marvel fans have been speculating he may be playing Ivan Kragoff, a villain known as the Red Ghost who fights the Fantastic Four in the comics. Red Ghost is a Soviet scientist who replicates the team’s space accident and gains the ability to turn intangible. He also creates a team of Super Apes who have similar powers to the Fantastic Four.
A bearded Malkovich was seen briefly in a teaser trailer released for the film earlier this month. “It was a good experience. I liked the cast. It was fun. It was interesting,” Malkovich said of filming his MCU debut.
The movie marks a reunion with his “Cut Bank” director Matt Shakman.
“Of course, it’s a very odd experience because nothing is really there except giant screens and 18 epic cranes,” Malkovich said. “It’s quite odd in that way, but it was fun. The cast was fun. We’ll see how it goes.”
The cast includes Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, as well as Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne and Sarah Niles.
Malkovich has no idea whether or not he’ll be in more Marvel movies. “We’ll see. I really don’t know,” he said. “I got a sweatshirt from Matt a few weeks ago with a nice note, but I haven’t spoken to him recently about how it’s going. I’m pretty sure he’s deep into editing.”
Malkovich recently revealed in an interview with GQ that he passed on Marvel projects in the past because the deals weren’t good enough for him to “hang from a crane in front of green screener for six months.”
“The Fantastic Four: The First Steps” opens in theaters July 25 from Disney and Marvel Studios.
In “Opus,” Malkovich plays Alfred Moretti, a former pop star who attempts a comeback after 30 years of hiding from the public. Writer and director Mark Anthony Green’s ensemble also includes Ayo Edebiri, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Tony Hale, Amber Midthunder, Stephanie Suganami and Aspen Martinez.
Malkovich revealed that his singing and dancing scenes weren’t formally choreographed. “We had a good movement coach, and it had repeating patterns but not choreographed,” he said. “Singing the songs was a really fantastic experience, something I would never have expected to do in my life, and there might be a good reason for that. My first instinct may have been the best.”
