[jale]

Nothing new really but anyway: Alba Has 'Fantastic' Hopes, Craves More 'Sin'

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com)- Although she'd been anointed a rising star on several occasions, Jessica Alba's media profile next converted into box office dollars before this spring.

Clad in chaps and equipped with a lasso, Alba's stripper-with-a-heart-of-gold Nancy was one of the main selling features for Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's "Sin City," as the graphic novel adaptation raced to just under $75 million at the domestic box office. Then in a clingy super-suit (and flirting with invisibility), Alba was front-and-center in the promotion for the comic adaptation "Fantastic Four," which has cleared $150 million.

Both films were ensembles, but Alba was a prime beneficiary of their successes. Still, her role in future sequels is still in limbo, but the 24-year-old actress seems ready for future "Fantastic" adventures and to "Sin" again.

The "Sin City" follow-up is in preproduction, but the proposed source material, Miller's "Dame to Kill For," wouldn't necessarily offer a big showcase for Alba.

"Robert talked to me about 'Sin City,'" Alba says, in the midst of promoting her next film, the diving lark "Into the Blue. "They have nothing for my character now. I had dinner with Frank and he kind of told me what he thinks is going to happen with Nancy. It's really cool."

"Cool" is also how Alba describes the potential for her "Fantastic Four" character Sue Storm and her relationship with Ioan Gruffudd's Reed Richards.

"Married -- I think they need to get married," she says. "I know what the first 20 minutes are gonna be, of the movie. It's really cool. They're getting married. Maybe I'm giving away too much, but yeah."

Tight costumes aside, Alba liked the different acting sides that "Fantastic Four" let her show.

"Sue Storm couldn't have been more conservative and nerdy and like a little corny and, you know, soft in her opinions about things," she explains. "Even when she was making a statement, she was still very prim and proper and I loved that about her."

Alba reports that she's signed on for at least three more "Fantastic Four" sequels, which suggest that -- heaven forbid -- the New York Post "Page Six" gossip rag got some facts wrong last month when a confidential source claimed Alba was planning on jumping ship for, of all things, a feature adaptation of the television semi-classic "I Dream of Jeannie." Alba has had a tough year with the tabloid press, seemingly popping up in glossy and voyeuristic photos whenever she hits the beach on a vacation.

"My mom didn't know what the paparazzi was like until a month ago," she notes. "At first, she was like, 'Well babe, that's what happens when you get famous' and blah, blah, blah. And then after about an hour of it, she was like, 'I'm gonna call the police. This is out of control.'"

Although Alba claims that most of what you read in the scandal columns is far from true, she at least knows where the "Jeannie" reports came from.

"They came from me talking to Sony about 'I Dream of Jeannie,'" she says, matter-of-factly. "It was definitely in a specific kind of way, but I certainly didn't commit to anything."

For now, the other thing Alba's signed for is "Awake," an indie thriller co-starring Hayden Christensen. After that, she's had a number of things in development, including the romantic drama "Sonic," but smaller projects would take a back seat to the potential franchises.

"My commitments are 'Sin City' and 'Fantastic Four' if they ask me to do them."

If you can't wait for those sequels, "Into the Blue" splashes into theaters on Friday, Sept. 30.

[ September 27, 2005, 05:20 AM: Message edited by: jale ]