Ant-Man Film Details
Ant-Man is a 2015 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics characters of the same name: Scott Lang and Hank Pym. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the 12th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Peyton Reed from a screenplay by the writing teams of Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, and Adam McKay and Paul Rudd. It stars Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man alongside Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Anthony Mackie, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, Abby Ryder Fortson, David Dastmalchian, and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym. In the film, Lang must help defend Pym’s Ant-Man shrinking technology and plot a heist with worldwide ramifications.
Development of Ant-Man began in April 2006 with the hiring of Wright to direct and co-write with Cornish. By April 2011, Wright and Cornish had completed three drafts of the script and Wright shot test footage for the film in July 2012. Pre-production began in October 2013 after being put on hold so that Wright could complete The World’s End. Casting began in December 2013, with the hiring of Rudd to play Lang. In May 2014, Wright left the project citing creative differences, though he still received screenplay and story credits with Cornish. The following month, Reed was brought in to replace Wright, while McKay was hired to contribute to the script with Rudd. Filming took place between August and December 2014 in San Francisco and Metro Atlanta.
Ant-Man held its world premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on June 29, 2015, and was released in the United States on July 17, as the final film in Phase Two of the MCU. It grossed more than $519 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics, who generally welcomed the film’s smaller stakes than other MCU films, as well as its cast (particularly Rudd, Peña, Lilly, and Douglas), humor, and visual effects. Two sequels have been released: Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023).
STORY
PRODUCTION
Development
Development of an Ant-Man film began as early as the late 1980s, when Ant-Man co-creator Stan Lee pitched the idea to New World Pictures, Marvel Comics’ parent company at the time. However, Walt Disney Pictures was developing a film based on a similar concept, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and although Ant-Man went into development, nothing came to fruition.
In 2000, Howard Stern met with Marvel in an attempt to purchase the film rights to Ant-Man. In May of that year, Artisan Entertainment announced a deal with Marvel to co-produce, finance, and distribute a film based on Ant-Man. In 2003, Edgar Wright and his writing partner Joe Cornish wrote a treatment for Artisan, with Wright explaining that it revolved around Scott Lang as a burglar “so he could have gone slightly in the Elmore Leonard route”, though Artisan wanted the film to be “like a family thing”. However, Wright believed that the treatment was never sent to Marvel. A year later, the duo pitched the film to Marvel Studios’ then head of production, Kevin Feige. In April 2006, Marvel Studios hired Wright to direct and co-write Ant-Man with Cornish as part of the company’s first slate of independently produced films. Wright would also co-produce the film with his Big Talk Productions partner Nira Park.
At the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con International, Wright said he was intrigued by the story’s high concept and character. Wright also stressed that the film would not be a spoof but an action-adventure with some comedic elements and would incorporate both the Hank Pym and Scott Lang incarnations of the character. Wright said that he was looking to “do a prologue where you see Pym as Ant-Man in action in the 60s, in sort of Tales to Astonish mode basically, and then the contemporary, sort of flash-forward, is Scott Lang’s story, and how he comes to acquire the suit, how he crosses paths with Hank Pym, and then, in an interesting sort of Machiavellian way, teams up with him.” The next February, Wright said that the project was in “a holding pattern” while the script was being revised, and that he had been doing research for the film by studying nanotechnology. In March 2008, Wright said that the first draft of the script had been completed and he was working on the second.
Stan Lee tweeted in February 2010 that Marvel was prepping the film and that he met with Wright for lunch to discuss the character. Wright noted that there was no timetable for the film because Marvel did not consider the character to be one of their bigger, tentpole properties, so “It’s more like me and Kevin Feige saying…’Let’s make a good script that works, that’s all about a great genre film, and that isn’t necessarily relying on anything else'”. At the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International, Wright remarked that because his film would be an origin story and would not be released until after The Avengers, the first Avengers film would not include Ant-Man, although Wright acknowledged that the character might appear in future Avengers films. In January 2011, Wright stated that he had resumed writing the script for the film following the conclusion of the international promotion for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and by April he and Cornish delivered the second draft of Ant-Man to Marvel. At the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International, Wright revealed a third draft had been handed in.
In May 2012, Feige said that the project was “as close as it’s ever been” while Wright teased the film by tweeting a pictogram of Ant-Man. In June, Wright spent just under a week shooting footage for a reel that would be used to test out the potential look and tone of his movie, as well as to decide how convincing Ant-Man’s powers look on screen. The test footage was screened to audiences during the Marvel Studios panel at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con International, with Wright confirming that Ant-Man would be happening. Germain Lussier of /Film felt the footage worked and was “awesome”, as “it had a totally different vibe from the other Marvel films. It was much more like something you’d recognize from Hot Fuzz.” Lussier, along with Katy Rich of CinemaBlend, also enjoyed the costume design choice. Reed said the costume design was influenced by Asian tokusatsu superheroes such as Ultraman and Inframan. That October, Disney scheduled the film for release on November 6, 2015.
Feige stated in January 2013 that Ant-Man would be part of Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and indicated in May that the screenplay needed to be modified in order to fit into the universe, as the project had been in development before the first Iron Man film. Feige also stated that shooting was slated to begin sometime in 2014, and that casting would begin towards the end of 2013. In July 2013, Wright said that he and Cornish had completed the script for the film and that Marvel allowed him to delay its production so that he could complete The World’s End, as that film’s producer Eric Fellner was diagnosed with cancer.
In August 2013, after Joss Whedon, director of Avengers: Age of Ultron, announced that Hank Pym would not be Ultron’s creator, Wright said Ultron was never a part of the story of Ant-Man, explaining that “just to sort of set up what Ant-Man does is enough for one movie”. Wright described Ant-Man as a stand-alone film but said it would fit into the larger continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, explaining, “I like to make it standalone because I think the premise of it needs time. I want to put the crazy premise of it into a real world, which is why I think Iron Man really works because it’s a relatively simple universe; it’s relatable. I definitely want to go into finding a streamlined format where you use the origin format to introduce the main character and further adventures can bring other people into it.” Wright also stated that pre-production for Ant-Man would begin in October and filming would begin in 2014. The next month, Disney moved the film’s release date up to July 31, 2015.
CAST
- Paul Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man:
A former systems engineer at VistaCorp and petty criminal who acquires a suit that allows him to shrink in size but increase in strength. Regarding Rudd’s casting, producer Kevin Feige said, “Look at that origin of the petty crook who comes into contact with a suit and does his best to make good, and then look at someone like Paul Rudd, who can do slightly unsavory things like break into people’s houses and still be charming and who you root for and whose redemption you will find satisfaction in.” Director Peyton Reed compared Lang to George Clooney’s character Danny Ocean from Ocean’s Eleven, saying, “He’s a guy trying to create a new life for himself and find redemption.” To get in shape for the role, Rudd worked with trainers and cut alcohol, fried foods, and carbohydrates out of his diet. Rudd stated that in preparation for his role, he “basically didn’t eat anything for about a year … I took the Chris Pratt approach to training for an action movie. Eliminate anything fun for a year and then you can play a hero.” Rudd signed a multi-film contract with Marvel, with Feige saying it was “three [films]-plus-plus to appear in other things.” - Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne:
The daughter of Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne and senior board member of Pym Technologies who helps Darren Cross take over the company. Throughout the film, character progression brings Hope closer to becoming a hero. Lilly described her character as “capable, strong, and kick-ass”, but said that being raised by two superheroes resulted in Hope being “a pretty screwed up human being… and the clear message sent by my name is that I’m not a big fan of my father and so I took my mother’s name.” She added that Van Dyne’s “arc in the movie is trying to find a relationship” with Pym. Originally cast by Wright, Lilly was reluctant to take the role after he left the project until she read the revised script and got a chance to meet with Reed. Feige said that Van Dyne was the more obvious choice to take up the mantle of Ant-Man, being “infinitely more capable of actually being a superhero” than Lang, and that the reason she does not is because of Pym’s experience with losing her mother, rather than sexism, which Feige felt would not be a problem for Pym in modern times. Lilly signed a multi-film contract with Marvel. - Corey Stoll as Darren Cross / Yellowjacket:
A former protégé of Pym’s who takes over his mentor’s company and militarizes a similar version of the Ant-Man technology to create the Yellowjacket suit. Stoll described the suit as “the next generation of Ant-Man’s suit”, with a sleeker, more militaristic look as “if Apple had designed a battle suit.” As for his character, Stoll said that Cross was more like Hank Pym than “Thanos or Loki, who are villains that know it”, since Cross is a “brilliant scientist, who is not ethically pure” with shades of gray. Unlike Rudd, who wore a practical costume as Ant-Man, Stoll wore a motion capture suit while performing as Yellowjacket. Reed explained that this decision was made early on when creating and filming with a real Yellowjacket costume was found to be impractical. - Bobby Cannavale as Jim Paxton:
A San Francisco Police Department officer who is engaged to Lang’s former wife Maggie. Cannavale stated that Rudd and McKay convinced him to join the film during the rewriting process before Marvel approached him, saying, “They sort of pumped [my] part up a bit…I really went on good faith [taking the role] because they’re so secretive [at Marvel] about the script. I just trusted them.” He also added that the process felt like an indie film instead of a large-scale blockbuster, and that he was able to improvise frequently along with the other actors. Patrick Wilson was originally cast in the role, before leaving the film because of scheduling conflicts brought on by the filming delay. - Michael Peña as Luis:
Lang’s former cellmate and member of his crew. Peña stated that he modeled Luis’ vocal style and positive outlook on life “on a friend of a friend”, saying, “That’s just the way he talks and the cadence. He’s got this grin on the entire time and he doesn’t care. He’s the kind of guy where you’re like ‘Hey, what’d you do this weekend?’ and he’s like ‘I went to jail, dawg,’ with a smile on his face. Not a lot of people do that. Not a lot of people think of life on those terms.” Peña signed a contract with Marvel for three films. - Tip “T.I.” Harris as Dave:
A member of Lang’s crew. Harris described Dave as Lang’s “homeboy”. Harris also revealed that he was not permitted to read the entire script, explaining “You’re just handed scenes as the film [went] along, and when you do that, it’s like a blank canvas, ‘This is what I’m going to do for this scene,’ and you can remember previous performances and remain consistent with that. The energy created by the ensemble you have around you, it contributes to the outlook or the final view of what your character has become, and what he meant to the story.” - Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Falcon:
An Avenger who is a former pararescueman trained by the military in aerial combat using a specially designed wing pack. On including Falcon, Reed said that it was not done just to include the character, rather “[i]t served a plot point; a purpose in our story” and allowed them to enhance Peña’s “tip montages”, which were written by production writers Gabriel Ferrari and Andrew Barrer, also adding Falcon “seemed like the right character — not a marquee character like Iron Man or Thor, but the right level of hero.” Rudd and McKay decided to include Falcon after watching Captain America: The Winter Soldier. - Wood Harris as Gale: A police officer and Paxton’s partner.
- Judy Greer as Maggie: Lang’s estranged former wife.
- Abby Ryder Fortson as Cassie Lang: Lang and Maggie’s daughter.
- David Dastmalchian as Kurt:
A member of Lang’s crew. Dastmalchian, who is American, worked with actress Isidora Goreshter to learn how to speak in his character’s Russian accent. On his character, Dastmalchian said that he “had this idea that Kurt was born and raised in a town even further out than Siberia and he was just an amazing computer wizard who fell in with the wrong people. But he was obsessed with two things: Saturday Night Fever and Elvis Presley, hence the polyester shirts unbuttoned too far and the hair in that pompadour.” Dastmalchian later stated that the character’s last name was Goreshter, as a tribute to the actress. - Michael Douglas as Hank Pym:
A former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, entomologist, and physicist who became the original Ant-Man in 1963 after discovering the subatomic particles that make the transformation possible. He later mentors Lang to take over the role. Douglas compared his decision to join a superhero film to his role in Behind the Candelabra saying, “Sometimes—like [when] they didn’t see you for Liberace—you’ve got to shake them up a little bit and have some fun.” Describing Pym, Douglas said, “He’s sort of a Northern California, formal guy. He’s lost control of his company. He lives in sort of a time warp. He was always a bit of a tinkerer. He’s got a lab, plus a lot of other stuff, in his basement that we find out about. He’s certainly bitter about what happened with his company and deeply scared of what the future might hold—because he himself, after having gotten small so many times, it’s difficult. He looks and tries to find a guy that he can work with and has the right characteristics, which is [Scott].” Douglas indicated that he would not be wearing the Ant-Man suit.
RELEASE
June 29, 2015
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