Posted in: Marvel Studios, Movies | Tagged: ant man and the wasp, film, marvel

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Director Peyton Reed on Having the Freedom to Tell His Own Story

There is an idea that some people have about the Marvel Cinematic Universe: that the Marvel Formula doesn't give the writers or directors any creative freedom. One would think at this point, so late in game, that there would be even less. According to director Peyton Reed to Collider, while they did have to deal with the fallout from Captain America: Civil War, they were given some freedom aside from that.

As I said, we definitely had to deal with the ramifications post Civil War. That was crucial to Scott. And crucial to Hope. I mean it really is like fundamental in the jumping off point about what's going on between the two of them at the start of this movie. Outside of that, what I'm really happy about is, we're free to tell sort of our free-standing story. Once we establish that as the leaping off point, this thing is going on over here with huge personal stakes and huge other stakes that are really separate of what's going on with Infinity War. So that again is something that was really, really, appealing to me. We have enough stuff to track in this movie without having to sort of keep up with the rest of what's going on with that.

There are so many Marvel movies right now that there is going to be a lot of overlap when it comes to shooting. For Reed and Ant-Man and The Wasp they were shooting during the latter half of the year-long shoot for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4. Reed knew it was going to be a challenge, but it was one everyone involved was prepared for.

Scheduling wise, you know, it's a challenge, but it's a challenge we knew was going to be there. It's made easier obviously by the fact that we're all down here on this Pinewood campus, all working together. So there's, you know, behind the scenes shuffling and scheduling stuff but so far, it hasn't impacted us. I know in October there's some big dates coming up for Paul but so far, it's been fine. So far, I have not felt the impact of the other movie.

Reed went on to say that working alongside a bigger production and coming out after an Avengers movie again means the Ant-Man movies are in a little corner to themselves.

You know, for the first movie, we came out in the wake of Avengers: Age of Ultron, which was, you know – that was the sequel to Avengers! It's Age of Ultron! So we could kind of be working in this little corner, and it feels the same way again because now we're coming out right after Infinity War. And again, I like that. I personally feel that's the position I want to be in. I mean, it's good.

The Ant-Man movies seem to be those that Marvel turns to when they want to remind us that not all of these movies focus on the end of the world. They can have smaller stakes, be more personal, but still work as a larger part of this universe. Sometimes it's important to scale everything down — pun intended.

Summary: As Scott Lang balances being both a Super Hero and a father, Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym present an urgent new mission that finds the Ant-Man fighting alongside The Wasp to uncover secrets from their past.

Ant-Man and The Wasp, directed by Peyton Reed, stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Hannah John-Kamen, Michael Douglas, and Michael Peña. It will be released on July 6th.

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