Peyton Reed Confirms ANT-MAN AND THE WASP Has An "Entirely Different Genre Template"
In case you thought Ant-Man and the Wasp will retain the heist element that was utilized for the original movie, director Peyton Reed has assured otherwise.
When Comic Book Resources spoke with Ant-Man director Peyton Reed in anticipation of the Marvel movie's home release (today), the site didn't waste any time before asking about the 2018 sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp. In response, Reed revealed that the Phase Three movie's plot will not revolve around another heist, and he also addressed the possibility of Michael Douglas’ wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, playing Janet Van Dyne, working with Adam McKay again, and much more.
“I think there's probably going to be some aspects that maybe call back to the tone of [the first movie], but for Ant-Man and the Wasp, we have an entirely different template,” Reed reassured. “We know what that template is, and we have an entirely different genre template for that movie. But it's going to remain a surprise. But yes, that's already been decided.” About bringing back co-writer Adam McKay, who has expressed interest in working on the Ant-Man sequel, Reed seemed enthusiastic about the possibility. “Well, definitely, Paul [Rudd], and we've got [Andrew] Barrer and [Gabriel] Ferrari, who were not credited on the movie, but they're our production writers, they're coming back,” he explained. “And Adam's going to come back in some capacity. A lot of it has to do with his schedule on [his new movie] The Big Short because he's promoting that movie and is probably, I would think, well into the Oscar season. […]We talked about Ant-Man, and he's psyched to come back. We want him back. It's going to be a scheduling thing.”
When asked what he’s most excited to tackle in Ant-Man and the Wasp, Peyton Reed declared what we’re most excited for too. “I'm excited just for Evangeline [Lily] to actually suit up and become a hero in the movie,” he said. “I'm also excited about the idea that Ant-Man and the Wasp were a partnership throughout the history of Marvel Comics. It's a different dynamic than we've seen in the rest of the Marvel movies, an actual partnership. You've got Captain America and the Falcon, obviously. But this is a thing that in the comics was a romantic partnership and a heroic partnership, so it's going to be fun to play around with that and discover what the movie version of that is.” The filmmaker continued, “I feel like we've set up a pretty complicated character in Hope van Dyne in the first movie. It's going to be fun to see how that plays out in the second movie, and continue that exploration of the family dynamics between Scott Lang and his family, but also, between Hank Pym and Hope and possibly even Janet. So that's exciting.”
Speaking of Janet Van Dyne, Evangeline Lilly has expressed a desire to see Michelle Pfeiffer portray the superheroine in Ant-Man and the Wasp, but Michael Douglas also suggested his actual wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, for the role. About the latter casting possibility, Peyton Reed said, “Oh, it's great to have that on the table!” He continued, “I mean, we're so early on. We're really going to start in earnest in January on the writing. But we obviously have tons of notes -- things that we set up in the first movie -- and it's going to be fun to actually really hit the ground and start developing and writing the movie. It's so early on to start talking about that stuff. And also, I talk a lot to Michael about -- there's a lot of exposition that he was called on to present. There's a lot of set-up in Ant-Man, and it will be fun to give Michael different stuff to do in this movie.”
Next, Peyton Reed was asked about the flashback sequence in Ant-Man, and whether or no we’ll see more in Ant-Man and the Wasp. “Yeah, I mean, it's something that we're discussing, and we'll see if it actually works within the context of the story,” he explained. “It's something that's definitely interesting to all of us. Because I think it gave us an opportunity, even with the opening scene in Ant-Man, the S.H.I.E.L.D scene, to retroactively place this guy into the Marvel Cinematic Universe who's such an important character in the comics, and all the possible relationships that could exist there, that's really exciting. It's something we do want to explore.” Finally, while Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang is all but confirmed to take on his Giant-Man form during Captain America: Civil War, Reed was asked whether or not he’s intrigued by that Ant-Man identity among many others. “Yeah, mean, it's such a crucial part of his character in the comics,” he said. “I think to ignore that would be crazy, because there's a lot of rich stuff. Not only with the different sort of super heroic identities that he had in the comics, but just his psychology. I mean, we do set up in the movie that when Scott says to him, "Why don't you just put on the suit?" He's like, "I can't. I did it for a long time, and it took a toll on me." It's like, "Well, what does that mean, exactly?" I think there are a lot of things that we're going to explore in the next one that will explain a lot of that stuff.”