Marvel continues its search to replace Edgar Wright as director of Ant-Man, but so far they’ve had three directors publicly decline. Could Ant-Man end up being canceled altogether?
But now Marvel has seen two more directors pass on the project, which Marvel has insisted will not be delayed from its current release date of July 17, 2015.
Ant-Man was supposed to start filming on June 2, so it’s surprising that Marvel believes they can stick to their previous schedule after losing their original director and having three directors pass on the film since then.
Reports now say that Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer was also in contention for the job, but due to some personal matters he wasn’t willing to take on the high-profile directing job with Marvel. A studio known for pushing its cast and crew to the max.
Fleischer would have been an interesting choice, considering his quirky comedy seen in Zombieland and 30 Minutes or Less, but he also helmed the major flop Gangster Squad, which had enough acting talent to fill a swimming pool.
Adam McKay was seen as the front runner due to the fact that he’s worked with Paul Rudd on multiple occasions, and Rudd is starring as Ant-Man in the film. He’s a very particular director though and taking over another director’s material was most likely not in his nature.
It seems no directors so far are willing to accommodate Marvel’s “vision” of Ant-Man which caused them to rewrite the script, clashing with Edgar Wright and causing him to walk from his own project.
Rawson Marshall Thurber was another director that was in contention and was just coming off his incredibly surprising comedic hit We’re the Millers, which pulled in nearly $270 million on a $36 million dollar budget last August. But now it’s been reported that he’s decided to pass on Ant-Man as well. Things are starting to get a bit interesting for Marvel.
All three of these directors have popular comedy in common, so Ant-Man appears to be more of a straight comedy, compared to Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, so we’ll be interested in seeing how this film pans out now that Edgar Wright has left his passion project which was nearly a decade in the making.
What happens if Marvel can’t find a director who is willing to take over from Edgar Wright? Since Wright left just two weeks before the film’s start date, Marvel has been thrown a curveball which they essentially threw at themselves.
We wish all the best of luck to whoever ends up directing, as they should have their hands full as they make their way through years of material which Marvel and Wright have worked on during Ant-Man’s two years of pre-production.
Filming was set to begin June 2, which has come and gone, so who knows when Marvel will be able to find a replacement to helm the pint-sized superhero. Maybe they made a mistake by rewriting Edgar Wright’s script less than two weeks before filming was set to start.
They’ve spent tens of millions in pre-production costs with Wright in the director’s chair. Could Ant-Man get canceled if the right replacement director isn’t found? Will it even be worth it once they find someone willing to take over where Wright left off?
We should know soon enough, at least we hope Marvel is able to find a replacement before they’re forced to shelve Ant-Man altogether.
They could always rehire Edgar Wright and let him film the script he worked on side by side with Marvel over the last few years, but that would be too crazy of an idea.