In a joint statement released today, Marvel and Edgar Wright announced the director has left the Phase Three film ‘Ant-Man.’
The statement was short and sweet and read as follows:
Marvel and Edgar Wright jointly announced today that the studio and director have parted ways on Marvel’s “Ant-Man” due to differences in their vision of the film. The decision to move on is amicable and does not impact the release date on July 17, 2015. A new director will be announced shortly.
News of Wright’s departure came as a shock as the filmmaker has been with the project since its inception in 2006. In fact, unlike other Marvel films, ‘Ant-Man’ was specifically designed to be a showcase for Wright.
One has to wonder what points of the creative process Marvel and Wright did not agree on, especially this late into the pre-production phase. The former helmer has been very forthcoming with his vision on the direction he wanted to take the film. Just last year, Wright had stated he was trying to single out ‘Ant-Man’ while still working within the confines of the MCU:
“It’s a way of doing a superhero film within another genre. I wanted to tell an origin tale in a slightly different way. It’s part of the Marvel cinematic universe, but it also feels like its own piece.”
Wright even showed a test piece at last year’s Comic-Com, the same piece that was shown for Marvel to show how he wanted to suprise audiences with this film:
“I want to make him into a badass [laughs]. No, I always liked that comic and I always thought it would be an interesting thing to see in live-action. That’s why I [showed] that Comic-Con test that we did for Marvel, to show this fight scene like a proof of content, like this is what the action is going to look like. I think a lot of people who maybe don’t know the character sort of see that test and go, ‘Oh, right, I get it. It’s like an action film,’ so that’s the idea. I think people will be surprised by what kind of movie it is, and so in that respect it’s something that I know is going to stand out because it’s got a very different story and is a very different movie.”
As far as casting goes, everyone is still on board with Paul Rudd as Scott Lang who finds himself able to change his size and communicate with insects due to the innovative technology created by Hank Pym (played by Michael Douglas). In addition to Rudd and Douglas, ‘Ant-Man’ will star Evangeline Lilly, Michael Pena, Corey Stoll, Matt Gerard and Patrick Wilson.
According to the statement, a new director will be announced soon, which is no surprise if Marvel wants to keep to their release schedule of July 17, 2015. What is unknown is if this new director will change any portion of the script that was written by Wright and Joe Cornish.
So who will this new director be? According to Variety, a replacement has been chosen but nothing as been signed on the dotted line. It’s a waiting game now but once we hear, we’ll let you know!
So since we are waiting, who do you think should replace Wright?
