Showbiz

Julia Garner is seen filming Marvel’s Fantastic Four for first time after fans left divided over Silver Surfer role

Julia Garner is seen filming Marvel’s Fantastic Four for first time after fans left divided over Silver Surfer role

Julia Garner was spotted for the first time on set of The Fantastic Four: First Steps in Los Angeles on Wednesday. 

The Ozark actress, 31 – who recently turned heads at a Gucci event in Paris – has taken on the role of the female version of Silver Surfer (Shalla-Bal) which has left some fans divided.

The upcoming Marvel superhero film is set to hit theaters later this year on July 25 – after a ‘woke’ teaser was dropped last month in April. 

Garner could be seen standing on top of jagged rocks as waves crashed down around her amidst shooting what appeared to be a dramatic scene. 

She wore a white and blue-patterned dress that had caped details on the back and fell down past her ankles. 

Julia’s blonde locks were combed back away from her face and at one point, she held her arms out while looking at the ocean. 

Julia Garner, 31, was spotted for the first time on set of The Fantastic Four: First Steps in Los Angeles on Wednesday; seen in March in Beverly Hills

Julia Garner, 31, was spotted for the first time on set of The Fantastic Four: First Steps in Los Angeles on Wednesday; seen in March in Beverly Hills 

Garner could be seen standing on top of jagged rocks as waves crashed down around her amidst shooting what appeared to be a dramatic scene

Garner could be seen standing on top of jagged rocks as waves crashed down around her amidst shooting what appeared to be a dramatic scene

The movie – which is directed by Matt Shakman – also stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ralph Ineson and John Malkovich. 

The premise is: ‘Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, the Fantastic Four must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer,’ per IMDB.  

An adaptation of the Marvel comic was released 20 years earlier in 2005 тιтled Fantastic Four and had cast Jessica Alba, Ioan Gruffudd, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis and Julia McMahon in leading roles. 

The movie was a box office success and a sequel hit theaters in 2007 called Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer. 

Laurence Fishburne had voiced the character of Silver Surfer while Doug Jones portrayed the physical role. 

In 2015, a reboot was also dropped – but garnered negative critical reception and made $167.9 million in the box office on a budget of $120 million. 

Last month in April, a first look teaser was unveiled to fans ahead of the upcoming film’s release – and garnered a divided reaction from fans, with some calling the movie ‘woke’ and others slamming the gender-swapping of Silver Surfer. 

One penned on X, ‘Another flop for Disney,’ and another typed out, ‘Ehm isn’t silver surfer a man? Another film ruined.’ 

The Ozark actress has taken on the role of the female version of Silver Surfer (Shalla-Bal) which has left some fans divided

The Ozark actress has taken on the role of the female version of Silver Surfer (Shalla-Bal) which has left some fans divided

She wore a white and blue-patterned dress that had caped details on the back and fell down past her ankles

She wore a white and blue-patterned dress that had caped details on the back and fell down past her ankles

Julia's blonde locks were combed back away from her face and at one point, she held her arms out while looking at the ocean

Julia’s blonde locks were combed back away from her face and at one point, she held her arms out while looking at the ocean

‘Silver surfer is a dude,’ a social media user wrote, while one added, ‘This is gonna be a woke disaster.’ 

Another shared, ‘First impressions aren’t great if i’m honest,’ and a fan commented, ‘Totally unnecessary. Disney is still more about erasing than they are about good stories.’

Read More Fantastic Four fans moan about ‘woke’ trailer as actress plays Silver Surfer article image

‘Was interested in this movie until this. Sure you could say she was in the comics, but we all know the iconic silver surfer was male. Not watching this anymore,’ one added. 

An X user wrote, ‘Since when was Silver Surfer a Woman? WTF!!’ and another penned, ‘There’s no way this is supposed to be impressive.’

Others slammed the way the visual effects looked in the trailer, such as one fan who typed, ‘Looks more like Tin Foil Surfer to me.’ 

‘How can the special effects that brought Silver Surfer to life 18 YEARS AGO, somehow, look better than the MCU version? How?!’ another questioned. 

One also shared, ‘I have zero problem with a female Silver Surfer, but am I trippin or the CGI looks a bit off?’ and another said, ‘I’m sure the VFX are still being worked on and hopefully it looks better when the film comes out.’

Some came to the defense of Garner’s casting as Silver Surfer, and a fan added, ‘She looks bada**! Can’t wait for the movie to come out.’

The movie was a box office success and a sequel hit theaters in 2007 called Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer

The movie was a box office success and a sequel hit theaters in 2007 called Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer

Last month in April, a first look teaser was unveiled to fans ahead of the upcoming film's release - and garnered a divided reaction from fans, with some calling the movie 'woke' and others slamming the gender-swapping of Silver Surfer

Last month in April, a first look teaser was unveiled to fans ahead of the upcoming film’s release – and garnered a divided reaction from fans, with some calling the movie ‘woke’ and others slamming the gender-swapping of Silver Surfer

One penned on X, 'Another flop for Disney,' and another typed out, 'Ehm isn't silver surfer a man? Another film ruined'

One penned on X, ‘Another flop for Disney,’ and another typed out, ‘Ehm isn’t silver surfer a man? Another film ruined’

'Silver surfer is a dude,' a social media user wrote, while one added, 'This is gonna be a woke disaster'

‘Silver surfer is a dude,’ a social media user wrote, while one added, ‘This is gonna be a woke disaster’

Another shared, 'First impressions aren't great if i'm honest,' and a fan commented, 'Totally unnecessary. Disney is still more about erasing than they are about good stories'

Another shared, ‘First impressions aren’t great if i’m honest,’ and a fan commented, ‘Totally unnecessary. Disney is still more about erasing than they are about good stories’

One also shared, 'I have zero problem with a female Silver Surfer, but am I trippin or the CGI looks a bit off?' and another said, 'I'm sure the VFX are still being worked on and hopefully it looks better when the film comes out'

One also shared, ‘I have zero problem with a female Silver Surfer, but am I trippin or the CGI looks a bit off?’ and another said, ‘I’m sure the VFX are still being worked on and hopefully it looks better when the film comes out’

‘It’s crazy how you guys see a female and think she can’t be a silver surfer,’ one typed, and another wrote, ‘y’all know there’s a female silver surfer right? it took one google search to find that.’ 

One X user shared, ‘For those who thinks Marvel is misgendering The Silver Surfer, there’s a female version that was introduced in 1968 as Shalla Bal. She became a Silver Surfer after she asked Galactus to spare her planet.’

‘Amazing how many absolute tourists are outing themselves,’ a fan commented. ‘I can’t wait to see more of live action Shalla Bal. And comic accurate Galactus are you kidding me??? Give now.’ 

Julia recently opened up about taking on the role of Silver Surfer as she makes her grand debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe 

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly last month, the Inventing Anna actress recalled meeting with director Matt Shakman and initially believed she would not be offered a role in the film. 

‘I was confused because I was like, “Wait, isn’t the Silver Surfer a man?” I was just like, “Okay, well, I’ll play anything,”‘ she expressed. 

‘I was a very big fan of Matt’s, so there was already, in my mind, like, “I should probably meet with Matt Shakman because he’s a very smart director and I love his work.”‘

Garner added, ‘And then he was explaining to me that it’s actually Shalla-Bal and that whole thing.’ 

The star stated that her meeting with the filmmaker had been ‘all over the place’ and believed she ‘wasn’t actually going to get the part’ due to that. 

‘I was like, “I don’t know how he will hire me for this job.” I mean, we were talking about communism, brutalist architecture, all this stuff.

‘And then they were like, “You got it.” I was like, “Wait, what?” So I think that we vibed, but you never know, basically, is what I’m saying,’ Garner told the outlet. 

The actress also revealed that it was her first time doing motion capture for a project and expressed that ‘it was crazy.’ 

'I was confused because I was like,

‘I was confused because I was like, “Wait, isn’t the Silver Surfer a man?” I was just like, “Okay, well, I’ll play anything,”‘ she expressed; seen in February in Milan 

The Wolf Man actress continued, ‘It was such a surreal experience. It was wild. Normally, last looks would be hair and makeup, and then all of a sudden, it was just wires.’ 

When it came to filming scenes when she was riding a surfboard, Julia prepared by taking yoga classes. 

‘I did a lot of yoga just because I knew that I was going to be doing positions all day surfing.’

Julia added, ‘But it was weird – I was in motion-cap, but I mean, I wasn’t eating donuts and hamburgers every day and not moving.’ 

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