Ant-Man: Director Peyton Reed Reveals Key Spoilers

Uproxx recently sat down with Ant-Man director Peyton Reed to discuss the upcoming blockbuster film Ant-Man. And you know what? Reed is completely not shy about revealing some key spoilers for the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe entry.

In the interview, Reed also talks about what was kept from Edgar Wright’s — the original director who was later dismissed from the project — script. So for those who want to go into the theater not knowing anything about the movie, close your browser now or visit any one of a myriad of Bam Smack Pow’s illuminating articles.

Final warning.

This is it.

Okay, get ready for some key Ant-Man spoilers.

SPOILER WARNING: Key plot points and story revelations will be revealed beyond this point

Reed has always been a longtime fan of Ant-Man. And when he signed on, he read the script from Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, and thought the story was genius.

"I think I just had to really think it through in terms of, regardless of who had developed it before, was just that someone else had developed it for some time. For me, it was really only a question of do I have the time and is there a willingness on the part of Marvel to let me make this movie my own. I read all of the existing drafts that Edgar [Wright] and Joe [Cornish] wrote. It was clearly Edgar and Joe’s idea to make this a heist movie and to sort of loosely base it on Marvel Premiere “To Steal an Ant-Man” that introduced Scott Lang. It was also their idea to create this Hank Pym/Scott Lang, mentor/mentee relationship. And, also, their idea to kind of do a Marvel movie where the third act battle take place in a little girl’s bedroom. Genius. It was great."

Being a fan who felt a closeness with the characters, Reed had one thing he really wanted to add.

"Well, I came on about the same time that Adam McKay and Rudd were doing rewrites. And I’ve known McKay for some time and we talked on the phone and we were both really jazzed about the idea of, in the third act, in a movie in which we will have seen shrinking a bunch, let’s take it even further in the third act and introduce what, in the comics, was the microverse, in what we call the quantum realm. Creating this moment of self-sacrifice where he has to go into the quantum realm to save his daughter, that was something that was never in those drafts that Adam and I brought to it."

The added scene was kind of an homage to Reed’s favorite movies and shows as a youngster, and gave Scott Lang some extra conflict.

"Well, there’s that. It owes a little bit to 2001, and then there’s a The Twilight Zone episode that Richard Matheson wrote called “Little Girl Lost,” where a little girl sort of falls into the wall. Something opens up and she’s in this whole other dimension. And it freaked me out as a kid, and I love the idea, so we did an inverse version of that where the dad is now in there and the daughter is back in reality. So, I love that as a science fiction concept and, of course, Richard Matheson wrote The Incredible Shrinking Man, so I love the Richard Matheson aspect of Ant Man. And Adam came up with the idea that in every heist movie, there’s a trial by fire and they’ve got everything in line for the heist, but we need this one thing. Adam pitched that idea of sending Scott on a mission for which he’s not quite prepared and he comes up against another Marvel character. That blew my mind, and particularity with that specific character."

Ant-Man also had to be its own thing and be accessible to people who are not familiar with Marvel’s various properties.

"And I love the idea, too, and I was banging this drum from the beginning of like here’s the things I want of Ant-Man: I want it to be under two hours, I want it to be tight, I want it to be funny, I want it to be kinetic and move to the rhythms of a heist movie. And it had to work for someone who hasn’t seen another Marvel movie or read another Marvel comic. There were going to be elements of it that, if you know, it will enhance the experience, but it had to work as a standalone thing. That, to me, worked in a really organic way. It wasn’t like, “Oh, let’s put him up against this other guy.” It served a plot point; a purpose in our story. But the other things that we really brought to it, when we started working with Michael Pena, if Scott’s going to make this decision to turn back to a life of crime and comes in and says, “Tell me about that tip,” I love the idea of we created these “tip montages.”"

Speaking about taking over the project from Wright, Reed felt that it was a “weird experience.”

"Jeremy and I were exchanging messages like, “God, what happened with Edgar Wright?” And he’s like, “I don’t know, man.” I think I literally DMed him, “Who is the poor sap who is going to take over that movie?” I did that! Then, I found myself a week and a half later meeting with Marvel and I decided to do the movie. I can’t remember if I emailed or called Jeremy, but I was like, “Guess what.” He just read about it and was like, “What the f*ck?” So, it was a really weird turn of events. Listen, it’s the kind of movie I’ve wanted to do for a long time. And I knew coming in last minute that it was going to be a speeding bullet that I had to catch up on."

When asked about an Ant-Man sequel and why it wasn’t included in Marvel’s 2019 schedule, Reed says that he’s sort of in the dark.

"The only thing I know about it is they released that schedule, then the Spider-Man announcement came about and they sort of adjusted the schedule to allow for that. So, listen, if our movie does well and there’s a desire for a sequel, I’d love to do it. I have no idea if or what that timetable would be. If it does happen, I’d love to do it."

END OF SPOILERS

It seems that Reed certainly knows his Marvel lore and, like every great director, is putting something personal into the film. It’s only a matter of days before Ant-Man will be released to rabid fans anxious to see one of the founding Avengers brought to life.

For the full interview with Peyton Reed, visit Uproxx.

Set to release in the United States on July 17, 2015, Ant-Man will close out Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The film is being directed by Peyton Reed, written by Gabriel Ferrari, Andrew Barrer, and Adam McKay, and starring Paul Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne, Corey Stoll as Darren Cross / Yellowjacket, Bobby Cannavale as Paxton, Michael Peña as Luis, Judy Greer as Maggie, Tip “T.I.” Harris as Dave, David Dastmalchian as Kurt, Wood Harris as Gale, Jordi Mollà as Castillo, and Michael Douglas as Dr. Hank Pym / Ant-Man.

Next: Ant-Man TV spot showing which Avenger will appear

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