Super hero comics aren’t really a girl thing, but did you read any Marvel or DC as a kid?
JA: I wasn’t very familiar with the Fantastic Four. I wasn’t a big comic book reader when I was a kid, so my homework when I got the movie was to read the Ultimate series and the Marvel Knights series.
Have you had any feedback from fans, or demands about how you portray the character?
JA: Not yet. For the most part we’ve been on the road since the movie came out and we haven’t been able to get a direct fans’ response to it. I was doing both Sin City and Fantastic Four, so I didn’t get to go on the floor like they did and connect with the fans. I was going crazy going from one booth to the next. I was a little bummed out we couldn’t go to Comic-Con this year and see what everyone thought, because we officially announced it at Comic-Con last year, and we got a standing ovation. Everyone was really excited knowing the movie opened and made money, and people are receiving it so well. It would have been thrilling to go back to the fans and see what they thought. We really did labour over this and did everything we could to make it as authentic as possible, within the ninety-minute timeframe, as we had to give so much information.
I want to say something about Chris’s character [Human Torch]. I went to the opening night of the movie at the Grove Theatre, because that’s like really popular. There’s a lot of theatres – big ones with great sound. At the 10.05 showing, that was completely sold out, this little five-year-old boy was leaving the theatre to go to the bathroom and he’s going, “C’mon mum, c’mon. Flame on!” and he ran down the hall doing the flame on thing. I think every little boy is going to want to be the Human Torch.
If you could choose a super power for the weekend, what would it be and how would you use it?
JA: The funnest and most selfish would be the ability to fly. That’s one thing we could all really enjoy for a good, long weekend. I would fly, in the night of course, so I wouldn’t have to deal with the press. When I dream, I dream of flying.
What do you think of the press reaction in the States?
JA: Anyone who is negative about this, critically, obviously didn’t read the comic books and didn’t know what the Fantastic Four was about; or its charm. Also, they’re trying to pick Academy Award winning movies and not movies audiences want to go to and laugh and have fun for ninety minutes, to escape their everyday reality.
Finally, you’ve been in a couple of movies now where you’ve been very sexy, Sin City, Honey, and in this one you look fine too. Are you worried people will just think of you just as sexy rather than as a good actress.
JA: Thank you. I just think the more variety people see, in the different roles I play, the better. Max in Dark Angel was a soldier. I wore turtlenecks and jeans and motorcycle boots, but they still sold that as a sexy image. In Sin City I played an exotic dancer, so obviously I had to be sexy. In this movie it is never written, “Sue Storm is sexy”. I put on a tight costume, I’m the only woman so, of course, people’s minds are going to go… It doesn’t bother me. It’s all right. I’m employed and that’s all I care about.