The Story So Far - A Biography (chapter five)

The Story So Far - A Biography

Chapter Five

After 2005 Chris's breakthrough year, a year with three movie releases: Fantastic Four, London and Fierce People, the following year 2006 was a year Chris primary spend time on filming and enjoying his new superstar status. In 2006 Chris and his Fantastic Four co-stars were nominated for a MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team, and in June of 2006 Chris's relationship with Jessica Biel ended. People Magazine named Chris as one of the hottest bachelors of 2006.

(Chris as Bryce in Fierce People)

(at the 2006 Maxim Hot 100 List Party)

In 2007 Chris's voice could be heard in the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as Casey. Also released that same year were the movies Sunshine, the Fantastic Four follow up 4:Rise Of The Silver Surfer and The Nanny Diaries.

In Sunshine, directed by Danny Boyle, Chris played the role of astronaut Mace. The movie is about a team of eight astronauts who are being sent to the sun during the so called Icarus II Mission, after the first Icarus Mission was a failure. Their mission is to explode a weapon in the dying sun to generate a supernova within the sun. One last hope for saving planet Earth.

Sunshine was nominated twice in 2007 by the British Independent Film Awards. Cillian Murphy was nominated for Best Actor. The movie won the award for Best Technical Achievement by Mark Tildesley for production design.

(Chris at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival - Sunshine Screening)

2007 also saw the release of the Fantastic Four follow up 4:Rise Of The Silver Surfer. In this movie our four heroes had to deal with their enemy Dr. Doom again and with the mysterious Silver Surfer.

When asked in an interview how Fantastic Four had changed his life and how it seemed Chris's name transformed overnight in a household name, Chris answered:

Well, I don’t know about that. But thank you. It’s enabled me to continue doing what I love to do. The fact that I get to make movies and get paid for it is just unbelievable to me. A lot of the time in securing work in this business, a lot of it is dictated by your overseas exposure.

If you don’t have bankability in foreign countries, it’s going to be tricky to get a movie because a lot of people make their money back overseas. So the worldwide exposure of Fantastic Four has given me a bit more overseas bankability which has gotten me some auditions that I probably wouldn’t normally get. That’s been great. And it’s an opportunity to work. I think the best classroom is on set. Anytime you work on anything and then see the final product, you’re going to learn a little bit. And this has been an incredible learning experience.

(with Jessica Alba at Nickelodeon's 20th annual kids' choice awards)

And asked about the big difference making the second movie, Chris answered:

It’s very interesting having an opportunity to see the first movie and then get to go back and revisit a character you’ve already played, having seen the way it played out the first time around. So The biggest difference is The biggest challenge you have, is staying out of your head.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in what did the reviews say I know some people like this But I hated that scene Maybe I just shouldn’t trust my instincts here and just do it that way because I’m sure people will like that better It can really drive you crazy. So I think the biggest challenge was just trusting your instincts and approaching it the same way you approached the first one.

(Chris as the Harvard Hottie in The Nanny Diaries)

to be continued...