Entertainment Weekly were lucky enough to visit the set of Ant-Man last year, and they have a very interesting feature up about their time there. For starters, they witnessed a scene which took place in Hank Pym's (Michael Douglas) basement control room as he, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) come up with a plan to steal the Yellowjacket suit from Darren Cross (Corey Stoll). They caught some snippets of dialogue - "Cross has the place loaded with transmission blockers!" - and even a mention of Howard Stark, but that's as specific as things get. However, those of you worrying that major changes will be made to Lang's origin story (in which he steals the Ant-Man suit from Pym) needn't worry, as they seemingly reveal that he does indeed end up "nabbing" the Ant-Man suit when he's released from jail. Lang spends time behind bars for stealing from a CEO of a corrupt company that was itself stealing from its employees.
"He’s not used to being a hero," director Peyton Reed tells the site. "He’s more like George Clooney in Ocean’s Eleven. He’s a guy trying to create a new life for himself and find redemption." If you're still sceptical about Rudd being cast as Ant-Man, Marvel President Kevin Feige elaborates on what makes the comedic actor the right man for the job. "We wanted Scott Lang to have made mistakes that cost him dearly. But we wanted the audience to be rooting for him despite that. Paul Rudd can do almost anything and you’re still charmed by him." It sounds like Lang and Pym cross paths when the original Ant-Man hires the "master theif" to steal his suit as some sort of test. From there, Scott is trained by his new mentor all as part of the plan to take down Cross. The villain is apparently a former protégé of Pym’s who has developed his own version of the Ant-Man technology and created Yellowjacket. The duo's attempt to steal his suit will be complicated somewhat by the precense of Hope. "She’s not been in her father’s life for a long time," Lilly says. "So her arc in the movie—as Scott’s is with his daughter—is trying to find a relationship."
So, how are they going to go about filming those shrinking scenes? (we caught a glimpse of one such moment in the trailer of course) "What we’re doing is very different from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," Reed promises. "It’s going to be much more experiential." As a result, the actors won't be working with oversized props as Marvel are taking the far more advanced route of using macro photography and motion-capture technology. "There are cameras and lenses that make small areas look like the most epic landscapes," adds co-producer Brad Winderbaum. "Then we’re shooting motion capture with Paul to insert Ant-Man into those environments." Both Rudd and Stoll donned motion capture suits as a result, with the latter saing: "The director shouts out, ‘And now you’re gonna get punched on the left side of your face!’ ‘And now there’s a swarm of ants!’ It was a lot of fun." What do you guys think about these latest Ant-Man details? Sound off below!