Today actress Jessica Alba returns with her superhero role of Sue Storm in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Alba worked closely with Activision on the video game tie-in and talked to Yahoo about looking for ways to become even more involved with the gaming industry. The film is in theaters, but you’ll find the Fantastic 4 sequel videogame on PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and DS. What follows are the highlights from a recent interview with her.
What role do you see video games playing today in Hollywood?
I think games play an important role in movies. It’s all entertainment. It’s all fantasy, and it’s a way for people to connect to the movie by living vicariously through the characters in the video game. It’s a great role-playing experience. I’ve had a go or two at 007 and there’s a part of me that likes to pretend that I’m James Bond.
What do you think of what they can do with video games today?
The graphics are insane. They’re so real. I grew up playing Bomberman and Pac-Man and Super Mario Brothers and Zelda, where you had just this little guy who could barely walk and the music was like doot… doot… doot. And the way they walked was so stiff and robotic. And now the game characters look like people moving around. It’s a similar technology to what we use in Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. We now know how to make films that are completely animated and computer-generated, and convincingly real.
Have you seen yourself in the video games you’ve worked on in the past?
I have seen myself in video games, like in Dark Angel or the first Fantastic Four game. It’s weird. It doesn’t seem like me, but it is. It’s totally weird. It’s like having an action figure. It’s super cool, but it’s like, there’s no way this is real. You know they do body scans and everything to make the game characters look as much like you as they can. It’s completely cool and bizarre.
Did you get a chance to play the games you were in?
I have played both of those games, but I don’t last very long. I get frustrated. I just got the Wii and that’s fun. I play all of the Wii Sports games, like bowling, tennis, and baseball. That’s a lot of fun.
You mentioned recently getting the Nintendo Wii, what do you like about it?
I think the physicality of the Wii gets people off the couch. Sometimes you can just sit there playing a video game for hours and never move and you’re brain is just zapped from playing the game. With the Wii, you’re up on your feet and moving around. The physical aspect of it is great, especially for kids. They actually call it the Wii Diet, since active players can burn calories!
Hey, whatever works. Obesity is ridiculous with kids today in our country. Anything that helps is great. You know, West Virginia is using Dance Dance Revolution in all schools as part of P.E. I know a lot of public school programs don’t even have P.E. these days. That’s crazy. It wasn’t even an option when I was a kid. What the heck! I remember climbing up the rope, doing the mile run and all of that stuff.
Jessica Alba loves the Nintendo DS so much that she bought one for the whole cast of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer when they finished filming.
“I had my DS on the set of Fantastic Four and I bought it for my entire cast when we wrapped. I guess I just felt bad because between takes they’d be chatting and we were in the Fantasticar and I’d always have my iPod and my DS with me. It was like fingernail-biting, gripping moments in the movie and then, “Cut!” I’d pick up my DS and try to beat my 82 age in Brain Age. I’d try to memorize all of those damn words.”
You gotta love the sarcasm there! To clarify: 1. She’s an actress, memory is her work; 2. The worst Brain Age is 80 😉