The MCU avoided a major part of the conventional casting process for its movies and characters for one member of the Fantastic Four – and the decision seems logical for more than one reason. Over the course of its run, the MCU timeline has provided a wide range of stellar castings that have brought dynamic versions of beloved Marvel characters to the big and small screen.
While many of the MCU’s best and most celebrated castings came in the franchise’s first years of existence – with the original MCU Avengers being of course particularly beloved for much of the fanbase – there’ve also still been a range of stellar castings in more recent years, and plenty of chances for more long-term actors like Sebastian Stan and Tom Holland to show off how effectively they can perform in their roles.
The MCU finally adding the likes of the Fantastic Four to their roster additionally opened up new opportunities when it came to the franchise’s castings, since the team are some of Marvel’s most important – and most prolific – heroes. However, this didn’t mean those cast in the MCU iteration of the Fantastic Four were subject to too brutally intensive a casting process, as at least one member of the team was cast in their role without needing to undertake part of the usual audition process.
Ebon Moss-Bachrach Was Cast As The Thing Without A Huge Part Of The Usual Casting Process Taking Place
Interestingly, during an interview with Josh Horowitz for Happy, Sad, Confused, MCU The Thing actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach revealed that his casting in the role didn’t require a screen testing – despite this generally being a conventional part of big-budget castings, particularly for superhero franchises like the MCU.
The actor explained as much in his response to a question about whether the final MCU Fantastic Four group underwent screen testing in the audition process, or whether an offer was simply made without this extra hurdle, stating:
“I got an offer. I think I got an offer before anybody else. I didn’t have any screen testing. I’ve had to jump through a lot of hoops in my life, and this was one that I did not have to – which, I mean… it was great – I was really shocked when I was just, like, walking down Fifth Avenue one day, and then my agents called and they’re like ‘yeah, they asked you to do it’.“
Given how integral The Thing is to the Fantastic Four – and thus the MCU’s seeming plans for the future of the franchise – the fact Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s casting process was streamlined to a degree where the veteran actor himself was surprised is a truly fascinating part of the on-screen Marvel team’s real-world story, though it’s one that makes sense for a few different reasons.
The Thing’s MCU Depiction Partly Explains Why Ebon Moss-Bachrach Didn’t Need A Screen Test To Play The Thing
While Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s considerable career in the world of movies and television no doubt played a role in the actor not needing a screen test to play The Thing, it’s also likely the nature of the Marvel character themselves played a role here, since The Thing requires some slightly different focuses when it comes to ensuring the hero is pulled off on-screen well.
Of course, because the MCU’s The Thing was physically depicted with a blend of practical effects and CGI that allowed the rock-like countenance of Ben Grim’s transformed self to fit into the universe, a screen test was arguably simply less of a need here, since Ebon Moss-Bachrach himself wouldn’t be on-screen in the same sense.
That said, it’s not been unheard of for films to have screen tests utilizing actors whose on-screen appearances will be altered in the final version of the movie itself, meaning the call to abstain from putting Ebon Moss-Bachrach through screen testing for his MCU casting does suggest there was a level of confidence in picking the actor for the role – which does seem to have been proven well-founded by the reviews for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and the praise for the movie’s depiction of The Thing found within them.
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