Adam McKay helped Marvel Studios re-write the script for ‘Ant-Man’ but at one point, he was offered the job of directing the film and turned it down. This occurred after Edgar Wright and Marvel Studios parted ways due to differences of opinion in what direction the movie should have taken. While McKay was thrilled to be involved in the writing process (after all, he grew up reading Marvel Comics), there was one key stumbling point which stopped him from taking the helmer’s chair for the film.

McKay explains the situation and why he went the route he did:

“[I was basically offered Ant-Man] yeah, yeah. I’m friends with Edgar Wright, it felt a little weird to step in his shoes in that case. [Kevin] Feige at Marvel was totally cool, totally got it. At the same time I just said, ‘Oh my God I grew up on Marvel, man, I wanna do something over here.’ So I said, ‘Why don’t I do the rewrite with Rudd?’ That way I can respect Edgar and help out my buddy Paul with the rewrite, so it ended up being a perfect situation. Rudd and I holed up in a hotel room for like three months, rewrote the movie and just had a blast.”

I’m thrilled that McKay not only wouldn’t direct the movie due to his friendship with Wright but that Marvel Studios was able to respect that and still offer him a part to play in crafting the first ‘Ant-Man’ movie.

He also loved working with Kevin Feige throughout the development of the film:

“That guy has good taste. We wrote this section where Ant-Man fights one of the Avengers, and I was like, ‘Kevin I wrote this crazy thing where one of the guys—you probably won’t wanna do it,’ and he was like, ‘Well let me read it,’ and he read it and was like, ‘That’s awesome. We’re doing it!’ He just had that sense about him, and yeah what a fun world over there. I would definitely go back there and work.”

McKay also received an extra bonus from working on the film which was “a big giant Ant-Man poster signed by Stan Lee.” This is something he refers to as “a career highlight.”

Do you respect Adam McKay’s opinion for turning down directing ‘Ant-Man’ due to his friendship with Edgar Wright? Would the film have ended up even better had McKay sat in the director’s chair? Share your thoughts in the comments below, True Believers!

Source: Collider