FROM THE NEWS ARCHIVES OF CINEMA CONFIDENTIAL

Brendan Fraser as Mr. Fantastic?
POSTED ON 05/27/04 AT 10:30 A.M.
BY ETHAN AAMES

IGN FilmForce (http://filmforce.ign.com) reports that Brendan Fraser is in the running to play Mr. Fantastic aka Reed Richards in the "Fantastic Four" movie. Sources close to the studio confirmed that the 35-year-old thesp is a contender for the lead role but emphasized that no official casting has taken place.

According to the industry trades, Fraser, an oft-mentioned contender for Superman, has no other film projects lined up for this summer. That makes him available for Fantastic Four, which begins filming this August in Vancouver. Tim Story will direct from a script by Mark Frost.