Los Angeles, CA – To create the long-awaited Marvel reboot Fantastic Four: First Steps, director Matt Shakman and his visual effects crew took an unlikely but brilliant approach to realizing Ben Grimm, aka the Thing: they cast a real rock: “Jennifer,” lovingly referred to by its stand-in team. This creative move reflects Marvel’s dedication to uniting traditional production methods with advanced CGI, consistent with the iconic hero’s look while achieving photorealistic integration.
Why a Rock?
To accurately reproduce the Thing’s rugged, rock-covered physique, Shakman and his crew went out into the desert and chose a rock that precisely fit their conception of the character. They shot it through all of its appearances in every scene under each lighting condition: daylight, artificial light, or cosmic background lighting.
According to Shakman, “We went out to the desert and found a rock that looked exactly how we thought The Thing should look.”
This method gave a lighting and color guideline that helped enrich the visual effects artists’ work so that the CGI Thing would interact organically with live-action settings.
Layered Performance Techniques
The Thing was developed as a multi-layered operation. Ebon Moss-Bachrach wore a full motion-capture suit and acted through scenes with the use of a full-size practical costumed stand-in, all the while having “Jennifer” the rock act as a lighting and spatial reference .
This process is reminiscent of contemporary visual effects norms set by practices found in smoothing the transition from suits of previous films that were amplification-dominant to the modular CGI Nova-era productions.
Moss-Bachrach was a believer in the method, telling that he had confidence in the VFX crew to take his performance and make it “so much cooler”.
Anchoring Visual Realism
The creative team spoke with geologists and studied real rock formations to get an accurate stone-like texture and shape. The scientific methodology informed both the practical casting of “Jennifer” as well as the digital sculpting of the Thing’s CGI version.
Shakman highlighted the significance of “where Kirby meets Kubrick”- retro-futuristic style blending comic book origins with film realism, through practical sets, rocks in the desert, and
Welcoming the New First Family
Fantastic Four: First Steps, opening July 25, 2025, casts Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the Thing. The moviePh, ase Six of the MCU – is set in a retro-1960s alternate dimension and shows how the team became space pioneers before patching them into the overall Marvel continuity gamerant.com.
Shakman’s focus on real effects, such as shooting “Jennifer” under diverse conditions, reflects Marvel’s artistic advancement. Gone are the flat green-screen placeholders; instead, the team sought real-world references to create photorealism.
Cliché to Craftsmanship
Marvel’s transition from older approaches to precise craftsmanship shines through in this multi-step process:
Real rock (“Jennifer”) gave lighting reference that was accurate.
Stand-in costume aided actors and crews with perspective.
Motion capture suits provided smooth and immersive performance.
CGI artistry perfected the finished appearance to meet Marvel’s impeccable standards.
The payoff is more naturalized incorporation of Thing into situations, eschewing “cartoony” detachment from the surroundings
Behind the Retro-Futurist Vision
Director Shakman wanted to evoke a 1965 Kubrick look through practical sets, old-school lenses, and more-or-less tactile props—a philosophy that dictated everything from spacesuits to the desert rock stand-in.
The film included mid-century modern Baxter Building sets, prop robots such as H.E.R.B.I.E., and even a built-in Fantasticar set to match the Thing’s down-to-earth, rock-solid presence.
Marvel’s choice to bring a desert boulder by the name of Jennifer onto the set is more than charming narrative, it’s a sign of a broader philosophy that honors screen presence with practical creativity. By anchoring outlandish cosmic characters in real-world reality, the VFX chain becomes one of craft rather than technology. For the audience, that equates to a more immersive, believable, and ultimately more fulfilling cinematic experience.
Fantastic Four: First Steps debuts July 25, 2025. Pay attention: you may catch a glimpse of “Jennifer” lurking in every Thing frame.
