Evangeline Lilly has been discussing the forthcoming Ant-Man adaptation, and has revealed that she nearly walked away from the project after Edgar Wright stepped down…
“I was shocked,” she tells Buzzfeed. “And mortified, at first. Actually, I wouldn’t say mortified. You know, a creative project is a moving target. You never end up where you start. But we all, I think, signed on very enthusiastically with Edgar. We were excited to work with Edgar. We were fans of Edgar.”
“So when the split happened, I was in the fortunate position where I had not signed my contract yet. So I had the choice to walk away, and I almost did. Because I thought, ‘Well, if it’s because Marvel are big bullies, and they just want a puppet and not someone with a vision, I’m not interested in being in this movie.’”
“I saw with my own eyes that Marvel had just pulled the script into their world. I mean, they’ve established a universe, and everyone has come to expect a certain aesthetic [and] a certain feel for Marvel films. And what Edgar was creating was much more in the Edgar Wright camp of films. They were very different.”
And while she ultimately made the decision to stick around, it sounds as though Lilly is still disappointed not to be making Wright’s version of the film…
“I feel like, if [Marvel] had created Edgar’s incredible vision - which would have been, like, classic comic book - it would have been such a riot to film [and] it would have been so much fun to watch. [But] it wouldn’t have fit in the Marvel Universe.”
“It would have stuck out like a sore thumb, no matter how good it was. It just would have taken you away from this cohesive universe they’re trying to create. And therefore it ruins the suspended disbelief that they’ve built.”
Directed by Peyton Reed and co-starring Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas and Corey Stoll, Ant-Man will open in the UK and US on 17 July 2015.
