In Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which opens in theaters on June 15, the Fantasticar makes its big screen debut. IGN recently visited the set of the film where we talked to the cast and crew about their new ride.
"It's the coolest thing in the world," says director Tim Story. "We tried to get the Fantasticar in the last movie and it just didn't make sense for it to come that early. And the two top things I started working for the second one were the wedding and the Fantasticar... because the Fantasticar is kind of like the fifth character of the Fantastic Four. And it's just cool... a flying car that breaks up in pieces and they all have their own pod that they have to control. I just got into it, immediately!"
Needless to say, the "flying bathtub" just wasn't going to cut it, so the task of creating a new design for the Fantasticar went to conceptual artist Tim Flattery.
"I don't know if you're familiar with the Fantasticar from the comics from the 60s, but it's kind of a neat thing for back then," Flattery says. "I'm a comic nut, so I always try and pay homage to what's been there, what I grew up with, and what I know people are familiar with. But in this case what's been done in the comics with the Fantasticar... it only shows up here and there, and it just didn't apply to the movie. And so I tried to keep it in the back of my head, but really, the tone of the movie and the characters are what drove this, as opposed to the comic. The homage to the comic is that it does break apart, like it does in the comic. This one was going to be blue for the longest time and then we ended up changing it to a silver later on down the road. It looks sleeker, it complements the Silver Surfer, and the big decision was because of their costumes. We wanted something that would accent their costumes."
Flattery, who designed the Batmobile in Batman Forever, initially went for a really tough look, but the director had other ideas. He says, "In sitting down with Tim we discussed what it should be and what it's gotta do, and I went away and did a bunch of different sketches. His reaction to them was, 'It's not a predator. It's gotta be something really aggressive and cool but yet soft.' And so I started drawing from nature. A lot of times if I get stuck I'll start looking through books of bugs and undersea life, and I kept referring back to manta rays and stingrays, and that's basically where the shape is derived from. You can kind of see the organicness to how it undulates in the waist and the wings."
Once Flattery's design was finalized, the fully-functioning prop went into production. He says Story was wowed by the final product. "Tim Story, when he finally arrived up here, he took his shoes off, got on top of the thing, and was running around getting in every single cockpit, making 'Bpppppt!' noises. It was pretty funny. You know, jumping from one thing to another, pushing every button. He was in there for about a half hour before he got out."
Even though it's called the Fantasticar, the vehicle never actually touches the ground. "It hovers all the time," explains Flattery. And his design isn't just pretty to look at, Flattery has all the details worked out down to propulsion and zero emissions. "It uses the same technology for thrust as Deep Space 1 would, which is an ion generator," he says. "So, it's a clean burning engine that's based on an electrical charge as opposed to a gas motor. And uses a photonic accelerator for lift, which is existing technology too. If you look underneath you'll see in each quadrant is a fan and those are the lifting points. And it's a spinning photonic accelerator that creates a magnetic field that gives it its lift."
"Its range is indefinite," Flattery adds. "Because it's an ion generator, it's self-powering. It's pressurized so it can run at any altitude that any jet can, up to 50,000 feet. Normally an ion generator is known for slow acceleration, but this one has been concentrated because it has four chambers, and so it can get up to Mach 2 right away. Gravity helps that too."
It's a shame the thing has to rely on movie magic to make all of that work, because we'd sure love to drive one of these babies to the office. Although we're pretty sure we couldn't afford it. The prop version alone cost seven figures. "I'd say all in total it cost probably $1.2 million," Flattery says.
One quibble that Fantastic Four fans have expressed is the product placement angle that's been incorporated into the design. The vehicle has Dodge emblems on the grill and seatbacks.
"Dodge came in late, late in the process," explains Flattery. "The car was already designed. I had the design done right at the beginning of preproduction, and near the end a deal was made with Dodge and they came in after that. So, there's just some place marks for their emblems on it. There are references [in the film] to Dodge's involvement in Reed's design for the car. And I think it plays out in a humorous moment."
Flattery says that the car-maker plans to take the Fantasticar on the road, and that it will probably show up at fan conventions in the future. "They'll do kind of a circuit with it after it's finished. I think it'll end up going through auto shows, under Dodge's auspices. They'll showcase it. It'll show up in Comic-Con." Flattery also says it'll be preserved for any future films in the series. "Yeah, it'll be in the next one for sure," he adds.
For their part, the cast seems to dig the design. Despite his difficulty getting in and out of the thing in costume, The Thing actor Michael Chiklis says, "The first time I looked at it I was excited! I'm a car guy, I like cars. And this one flies! You know, I'd like to cruise around in it if they could get it to work."
For green screen scenes the prop was connected to a machine that made it move realistically. "It made me a little sick actually when we were shooting," says Jessica Alba. "I got a little nauseous. In all honesty, we actually spent a lot of time in the car and filmed full days doing a lot of the CGI stuff. It's like the Back to the Future ride... going down, going up, going sideways."
"And that's just shopping," jokes Julian McMahon. "Wait 'til an action scene!"