Exclusive Interview : Alex Hyde-White

With FOX’s rework of "The Fantastic Four" just around the corner, I thought it would be interesting to catch up with the guy that put Mr.Fantastic’s Pullover on in the unreleased 1994 version. Ladies and Gents, meet Alex Hyde-White.

How did you get involved in "Fantastic Four?"
It happened rather quickly, thru the conventional channels. my manager at the time, Mark Malis who had “discovered me” when the head of tv casting at Universal in 1978 had been my manager for about a year when the breakdown for the film and the part came out. He was very good at finding roles for me. I remember working intensely on the part prior to the single audition. In the audition for Oley, the director, and Steve Rabiner, the producer and Laura Schiff, the casting director, everything just clicked. It was one of those times when I walked out of the room with the part, not a callback audition. It was several days later, mid-October I recall of 1992. I was taking my friend Maxwell Caulfield to the airport. He was always very good at alerting his friends to a good part that he had heard was up for grabs. Nice guy Max. He had mentioned it to me a couple of weeks prior. Anyway, my pager went off in the car. This was before cellphones. So, I used the payphone at LAX to call Manager Mark Malis who told me that they had offered me the part of Reed. Cool! I rang off and saw Max off thru the curb at LAX saying, “they just offered me Fantastic Four.” It was the first time I had mentioned it to him as I didn’t like, at the time, to talk about things much before they were real. Superstition maybe. Nowadays I don’t think I am as much like that. It’s all good. He was, of course, happy for me. I was very happy, of course. Told him he’s lucky to me. We are very good friends. Him and Neil Dickson, my co-star in “Biggles” (1984) are my two closest actor friends. Both English.

Did you envision it as being a big film?
I thought it could be quirky, bit campy. Like the original F4 comic series perhaps. I knew given the independent nature of the project that it would be, at best, short and sweet with some original flair.

What actually happened with it?
Fox liked it enough to protect the potential of the franchise but not enough to release it as a film so they bought it from Roger Corman and New Constantine Pictures ( a German company headed by Berndt Eichinger) and shelved it.

Were there any big names up against you for your role?
Guys like Mark Moses, Tim Daly, David Caruso, Gary Cole – maybe.

What do u think about them remaking it now?
I am glad. Curious. Hopeful that maybe I can now go on and do something else in the genre because of my prior contribution to the original.

What have you been up to lately?
Have a rather nice part in “See Arnold Run” which debuts on tv on A&E Network on Jan. 30, which is my 46th birthday. It is the story of Governor Schwarzenneger’s run for the statehouse. I play George Gorton, his personal advisor and spin doctor. I also open in a play “of mice and men” Jan. 14 in LA.

Do you hope FF sees the light of day one day?
Yeah I certainly do.