diff --git a/captum/attr/_utils/interpretable_input.py b/captum/attr/_utils/interpretable_input.py
index 3d5f0566f..5ee947976 100644
--- a/captum/attr/_utils/interpretable_input.py
+++ b/captum/attr/_utils/interpretable_input.py
@@ -286,6 +286,8 @@ def __init__(
         self.n_features = n_features
         self.n_itp_features = n_itp_features
 
+        # preserve template before modification
+        self.template = template
         if isinstance(template, str):
             template = template.format
         else: