I just read a most amusing news bit from Contact Music. Apparently the filmmakers responsible for the much-anticipated (by me) film THE FANTASTIC FOUR were concerned that Ioan Gruffudd genitals were too large and pronounced in his spandex Mr. Fantastic costume and they would alarm young moviegoers.
The Welsh actor did find the costume to be pretty revealing so he started to wear a codpiece under the skintight suit. “Then memos started arriving from the studio that we needed to make it smaller and smaller until I was like Action Man,” Gruffudd explains.
Well, either Gruffudd is pretty fantastic in his own right, or the actor shares some of that fantastic stretching power his onscreen alter ego possessses. Remember David Lee Roth in his Van Halen days? I don’t think Roth’s spandex wrapped package scared any kids away. Hey, Gruffudd is playing a superhero. Comics tend to de-sex these characters; it’s too bad the movies do too.
Of course there’s the next question to come from this news report: why didn’t Chris Evans, who plays the Human Torch have the same problem? Perhaps he simply knows how to tuck.
Just puts a smile on my face when I think of the issues these Hollywood producers worry about.