We still haven’t seen much of Galactus in any of the trailers for Fantastic Four: First Steps, but the movie is just a day away from premiering in theaters, so Marvel fans will finally see the planet-eating villain on the big screen very soon. Veteran actor Ralph Ineson, who garnered attention for his distinctive voice and rich performances as Cid in Final Fantasy XVI and Lorath in Diablo IV, is playing Galactus in the film, and likened his experience of the shooting process—which required him to be in a large, uncomfortably warm costume—to being a Formula 1 car that’s maintained by an entire pit crew.
Since Galactus is a giant cosmic entity, the character will be portrayed partially, but not entirely, through CGI in First Steps, but Ineson was still in a full body suit while filming. In an interview with DiscussingFilm, the actor said the suit was “enormous,” but the biggest hurdle was the lack of any kind of air conditioning built in. As such, he had a dedicated crew whose job it was to blast him with cool air in between takes.
“It became quite a production,” Ineson said. “I had a pit team like a Formula 1 car. So I’d have about six or eight people around me all the time, keeping me cool in between takes. So that would involve taking the gauntlets off, taking the helmet off, and just trying to keep cool with the fans blowing on me.”
Despite the ordeal, Ineson says it was “great fun” to play Galactus. His scenes were shot practically on a miniature set, so he could play the giant villain with less CGI. Fantastic Four: First Steps is coming to theaters on Friday, July 25, and early reviews make it sound like the movie features the best version of these heroes to show up on the big screen thus far.