Vanessa Kirby's fake baby bump in Fantastic Four was heavier than real pregnancy: ‘Gave myself a backache for no reason’
In a recent interview, actor Vanessa Kirby compared her onscreen pregnancy in Fantastic Four: First Steps with her real-life pregnancy.
Before stepping onto the Avengers: Doomsday set with a real baby bump, Hollywood star Vanessa Kirby had already rehearsed pregnancy—sort of. While filming the recently released MCU film Fantastic Four: First Steps, the Oscar-nominated actor wore a foam prosthetic belly to play Sue Storm, who is expecting a child in the film. But Vanessa revealed she wasn’t convinced by its lightness.
In a recent appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, the 37-year-old actor revealed that she kept telling her costume handler the bump needed to feel heavier. “It was like this light foam thing, and I kept saying, ‘I want more. It needs to be heavier,’” she recalled. Eventually, they stuffed the prop with rice packets to increase the weight. The result? It became so heavy that Kirby ended up with a serious backache. “I gave myself backache for no reason at all,” she joked, noting that her real pregnancy belly turned out to be much lighter in comparison.
That “crazy timing,” as she put it, made its way into her next major project. Now actually pregnant, Vanessa is shooting Avengers: Doomsday, the latest installment in Marvel’s mega-franchise. On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, she opened up about the surreal experience of filming a superhero blockbuster while expecting her first child.
Calling it “the coolest thing,” Vanessa praised the support she’s received from the cast and crew on set. “They’ve been utterly amazing,” she said, singling out directors Joe and Anthony Russo, as well as Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, for their encouragement and understanding throughout the shoot.
In Fantastic Four: First Steps, Vanessa’s Sue Storm is not only navigating pregnancy but also preparing for life as a mother to Franklin, her and Reed Richards’ (Pedro Pascal) super-powered child. For Vanessa, the parallel between fiction and reality couldn’t be more uncanny—or more poetic.
