The Cast of Ant-Man and the Wasp Talk About The Little Details
Is that…a spoon or am I tiny? Is a reasonable question when entering the press junket for Ant-Man and the Wasp. Surrounding the stage, the cast came out to props from the film including the spoon, a massive Hello Kitty Pez dispenser seen in the trailer, and a giant bread bag clip (Paul Rudd’s favorite prop). All of these items made the room feel small, but it was the cast’s enthusiasm for the upcoming film that opened up the room.
Opening July 6th, Ant-Man and the Wasp reunites Scott Lang with Hank Pym and his daughter Hope van Dyne, as they begin a search for Janet van Dyne in the Quantam Realm. Along the way team encounters a mysterious Ghost-like villain who gets in the way of their plans.
Paul Rudd (“Scott Lang / Ant-Man”), Evangeline Lilly (“Hope van Dyne / The Wasp”), Michael Douglas (“Dr Hank Pym”), Laurence Fishburne (“Dr Bill Foster”), and Hannah John-Kamen (“Ghost”), joined Director Peyton Reed and Producer Kevin Feige to talk about the upcoming Marvel film, notably: the first MCU movie to take place after the events of Avengers: Infinity War.
Bringing Ant-Man to life is no easy task, the process is almost like having to create two worlds—one human size, and one on a small scale. Director Peyton Reed discussed the challenges, “Um, there were a lot of daunting sequences, because we really wanted to set out and go nuts with the Pym particle technology in this movie and it occurred to us at some point, well, maybe it’s not just Ant-Man and Wasp who can shrink maybe grow. What if it were vehicles, buildings and other things and we really wanted to go nuts with it. But what that did was create some real technical challenges.”
“So I think maybe the biggest is we did a whole car chase that took us through the city of San Francisco and we wanted to do a chase that you just simply wouldn’t see in any other movie because of all the size changes,” said Reed. “So that was probably the biggest challenge.”
Evangeline Lily happens to be a quantum physics buff and loved the fact that her character was leading the way for technology and could kick butt at the same time. As mom herself, she wanted to make sure her son understood her super hero role, “I have a seven-year-old son and he loves violent movies. And he likes to taunt me by telling me, ‘Mom, I love violence,’ because he knows I hate it. And he always, when he talks about good guys and bad guys in movies, I always feel a responsibility to clarify for him, ‘Honey you know that there really is no such thing as a bad guy. Right? They’re only just good guys, who have made so many bad choices, they’ve forgotten how to make good choices. And a true hero’s job is to remind them of their goodness. Not to annihilate them, to kill them. You know, it’s to help them redeem themselves,’ affirmed Lilly.
“And I think that’s applicable to life. Superhero stories are fun and they’re a totally different world, but what I think is cool and is that, to have redeemable villains, you’re teaching children that if you encounter somebody that might have a different opinion than you, that doesn’t mean they’re a villain.” The audience applauded as Lily concluded, “If they have a different objective than you, it doesn’t mean you should attack them. Maybe you want to try to understand them first.”
Hannah John-Kamen who plays the pair’s foe in the film, also substantiated this stance, “I definitely approach the character not as a villain, at all. Definitely a threat to the characters and the heroes of the movie.” John-Kamen explained the villain’s point of view, “But when you play a villain, you have to play it like you’re the good guy and everyone else is bad. So everyone else is the bad guy, and you’re the good guy. And she, I mean, the stakes are so high, she has such a clear objective in the movie and you know, every man for himself. Every woman for herself.”
Scott Lang’s love for his daughter has been at the soul of the Ant-Man movies from the beginning, and Paul Rudd believes that Lang’s drive is universal, “This theme of you know, parents and children run throughout the film. Fathers and daughters. And it’s something that’s relatable because whether or not we have children of our own, many people do, we all have parents. And you know the idea that I’m playing somebody that, like you said, doesn’t have innate super abilities, is a way in. I want it to be relatable. I can relate to the character that way. Certainly when I’m thinking about it and we’re talking about story and script and everything; that’s the approach.”
Rudd explained the importance of the family bond, “I have a daughter roughly the age of Cassie in the film; she’s a little bit younger. I know what it’s like to spend the evening playing with Barbie dolls and I know, like it’s just, that’s the glue. That’s the soul of it. And the love that a family shares and how we need each other.”
He continued, “You know, parents need their kids; kids need their parents. And if we could somehow build a very funny movie, one that appeals to all ages that, you’re right, that families and kids could see but that actually still has all of the elements that it fits in the Marvel Universe and all ages are going to be wowed by certain aspects of it — that idea that I can identify myself in that, in that role was huge.”
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