Edgar Wright forging ahead with script for Marvel’s Ant-Man

[A Necessary Evil]

Scott Pilgrim, the underrated smash hit of 2010, has finished doing the rounds. The battle weary director, Edgar Wright, has had enough of resting and has apparently decided to forge ahead with another draft of his long-awaited Ant-Man screenplay; a project he’s co-writing with Joe Cornish.

This is the first time in over two years that Wright has devoted any time to the Marvel Studio’s project as he was committed to giving the world Scott Pilgrim.

In a recent interview with the L.A Times movie blog, 24 Frames, Wright added that the project ” is not about the urgency of summer tentpoles and things going into production without a script”.

Is he perhaps hinting that Ant-Man will be free of many of the pressures associated with blockbuster Hollywood cinema? We all know that Transformers 2 shot without a story, Bay has admitted as much himself in the press for Transformers 3. And to the casual onlooker it certainly would appear that Ant-Man is the least cinematically sure character Marvel have worked onto the screens.

From what we understand, the pressure is off to make a superhero movie as it is classically understood and move it instead into familiar territory for Wright, who’s previous directorial efforts have been light-hearted and distinctly off-beat; although they always maintain a commercial sensibility.

Ant-Man is a lesser known Marvel character and incase you might be unfamiliar with him, here is a brief overview of the character and the people who inhabit his shrinkable world.

After coming across a size-altering chemical substance, biophysicist and nanotechnology expert Dr. Henry “Hank” Pym decides to become a superhero and, armed with a helmet that controls ants, Pym will shrin k down to the size of an insect to become the sleuth detective, Ant Man. He shares this discovery with his girlfriend Janet Van Dyke who becomes his crime-fighting partner ‘The Wasp.’

Sounds… interesting…if a little silly but in the hands of Wright, this could be brilliant.

Aside from that though, let’s hope that the film is a Wright classic that will stand alongside Shaun and Fuzz for humour and accessibility.

http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2011/02/05/edgar-wright-forging-script-marvels-antman/

 

[Donnie Darko]

I really hope this actually happens at some point. It has been talked about since when, 2004?

 

[A Necessary Evil]

Somewhere around there...It's been a while

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

The Avengers cartoon has made me certain that this can work.

 

[Ultra Lantern]

I hope Ant Man is in The Avengers movie.

 

[Donnie Darko]

Whedon has already said no Hank Pym in the Avengers movie. I hope he does show up soon, though.

 

[VictorShade]

Hank and Jan have always been two of my favorite Avengers. I'm hoping they show up in Avengers 2. The sub-plot of Hank gradually losing it due to all the size changing would be great. And if they pass up on Ultron as a villian in one of these movies they are making a big mistake. No Ultron, no Vision. I'm assuming Ant Man will come out between Avengers 1 and 2, so Hank and Jan will be available for Avengers 2. Besides, every team needs a science geek.

 

[Ultra Lantern]

I think for now it's Tony Stark as the science geek.

 

[Endeavor]

Whedon has already said no Hank Pym in the Avengers movie.

Did he say why?

 

[Blader5489]

Did he say why?

Because the Ant-Man movie won't be released before The Avengers and they don't want to step on Wright's toes (casting a Hank Pym that Wright would be forced to use, forcing Wright's script to accommodate a post-Avengers Ant-Man, etc).

 

[Timstuff]

I know Ant-man has a lot of fans, but I can never shake the feeling that if they make an Ant-Man movie, they're kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel. Hopefully if this happens they can get a great movie out of it, but Ant-man is still a rather obscure character and I'm a bit confused about Marvel's motives for giving him the movie treatment.

 

[Green Day]

I really can not see this movie making big money at the box office. With a small enough budget this film might get green lighted.

 

[The Squirrel]

I know Ant-man has a lot of fans, but I can never shake the feeling that if they make an Ant-Man movie, they're kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel. Hopefully if this happens they can get a great movie out of it, but Ant-man is still a rather obscure character and I'm a bit confused about Marvel's motives for giving him the movie treatment.

I kind of agree. I think the Pyms would work best as part of the cast in an Avengers movie.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I think if they want to use Ultron in a future film, giving Pym a film makes sense. Also, Edgar Wright makes good movies. I want to see this.

 

[EditNinja]

If there's an Avengers 2 movie, they(Pym & Wasp) might be introduced into it then, or in easter eggs of other MCU sequels.

 

[Endeavor]

Referencing the article on the main page to bump this up:
http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/164831-ant-man-script-update

 

[bored]

So does this mean he's actually going to do a movie about Hank Pym, and not this "Pym in the 60s, Lang in the 90s, O'Grady modern day" thing I read about a while back?

 

[R_Hythlodeus]

I sure hope so.

 

[Duke]

I do hope we get to see an Ant-Man movie too. The Vision would be awesome in an Avengers movie as well.

 

[TheVileOne]

Man, hard to believe its been nearly 5 years since Wright was first announced as working on this project. But at the same time it feels like its been a lifetime since then as well. So much has changed.

Obviously priorities and things will have to/had to change.

For example, Thor was originally only going to be set on Asgard as of 2007/2008.

 

[8Diagrams(WU)]

Edgar is a deep dude. He puts a lot of thought into what he does. Im sure he has something solid up his sleeve.

This guy I mean he was born to make superhero movies. The scene in scott pilgrim where he yells you cocky cock at brandon routh and he uses his powers for the first time backstage...man, like an xmen type scene. Give this man a franchise quick!

 

[Hypestyle]

...so if Ant-Man is thematically divorced from the other Marvel films, what heroes will be allowed to be referenced in his film?

 

[Dark Raven]

I know Ant-man has a lot of fans, but I can never shake the feeling that if they make an Ant-Man movie, they're kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel. Hopefully if this happens they can get a great movie out of it, but Ant-man is still a rather obscure character and I'm a bit confused about Marvel's motives for giving him the movie treatment.

I don't think it's scraping the bottom of the barrel. What is popular or works for a comic might not necessarily work on the big screen and vice versa. The Hulk is a prime example. He's an A-list character in the comics, but in the movies he doesn't seem to connect quite as well with audiences and the general public because, no matter how you pitch it, before anyone actually gets to see what he's truly like, there's already the assumption that he's a mindless green brute of a monster. Something like Ant Man might seem D list, but audiences could really tap into this whole concept. As far as they're concerned, they don't know that he's a 3rd or 4th tier character. If he's done well, he could become another popular franchise, because he also seems like he could be fun, intelligent, and there could be some cool scenes when he's shrunk down.

If you throw in Autumn Reeser as the Wasp, you'd provide for some excellent banter.

 

[Donnie Darko]

I completely agree with the concept of things working differently for comics and movies. Since the Blade movies came out, Marvel has tried and tried to get the character to take off again in comics, but it never really happens.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I like that Wright puts lots of thought into what he does. He has a great sense of style, and I expect this to turn out well.