After the bona fide legend and usually-picky Robert Redford, of all people, nabbed a role in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” it seemed all bets were off in terms of who Marvel could woo to their comic book universe. And today brings another surprise addition, with an Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe winner joining the next big Marvel flick.
Variety reports that Michael Douglas (who took home a well-deserved Best Actor trophy from the Golden Globes last night for his turn in “Behind The Candelabra“) has joined Edgar Wright‘s “Ant-Man.” He will be paying Hank Pym, to Paul Rudd‘s lead Scott Lang, and while an earlier version of the story noted he was the villain (spied by Bleeding Cool), that information has since been scrubbed (writer Justin Kroll tweeted: “Quick update Michael Douglas will be playing Pym and Pym will not be the villain. Sorry folks misunderstanding on my part”). Regardless, with Wright recently playing up the long-standing “heist movie” approach, it’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out in the script, which was co-written by Wright and Joe Cornish.
“I’ve been dying to do a Marvel picture for so long,” Douglas told Reuters on Monday. “The script is really fun, the director is really good. Dylan (the actor’s 13-year-old son) will love it. He’ll have a picture he can see.Sometimes – like [when] they didn’t see you for ‘Liberace‘ – you’ve got to shake them up a little bit and have some fun.”
Still lots of time to speculate, as “Ant-Man” isn’t due in theaters until July 31, 2015.
So Rudd is Scott Lang and Douglas is Pym. With Wright having posted an image from the cartoons which happened to feature Lang STEALING Pym's tech and outfit I guess that factors into the heist scenario, though I'm more interested in who the villainous group will be that forces Lang's hand. Using Crossfire would be a bold move – given that only true nerds are going to even recognize who he is – but bold in the sense that they could use it as a springboard toward getting a Hawkeye solo film off the ground by having him approach Crossfire in the undoubtedly-to-be-included post credits scene and haul him off to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. Then the focus of a Hawkeye solo film deals with the ramifications of Crossfire escaping custody, etc.
Then again I'm forgetting something – Marvel doesn't seem to give a good goddamn about Hawkeye.
Steven Soderbergh looks disappointed in that photo – his friend Michael Douglas just joined the dark side – Hollywood tentpole superhero films!
Agreed. I have yet to be blown away by a Marvel film. The first Iron Man was okay, but the third-act turned into Transformers. Thor was crap, Captain America was embaressing. The Incredible Hulk was ludicrously bad. The Avengers, while maybe a comic book nerd's wet dream, was a tv-movie version of Transformers 3 with better acting (primarily thanks to Downey Jr. and Ruffalo)
This one is interesting because it sounds like a interesting high-concept and its heist film genre tropes excite me. Also, Edgar Wright is a unique filmmaker and not some schlock blockbuster hack. Michael Douglas is always watchable.
Well, despite how boring MARVEL movies have become I have to admit this is the most interesting thing they've done in a long time. Definitely the most interesting blockbuster of 2015
Even tough I'm kinda sick of super-heroes, I bet this movie will be much better then Star Wars and other big tentpoles.