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

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Peyton Reed Talks About Wooing Michelle Pfeiffer

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been bringing in some big names in recent years. It's given the superhero franchise a sense of legitimacy, and when it came time to cast Janet Van Dyne for Ant-Man and The Wasp, director Peyton Reed told The Hollywood Reporter that he got his dream casting with Michelle Pfeiffer.

"We used a double on the first movie. But the whole thing was, 'I want her to look like Michelle Pfeiffer, because that would be my dream casting for Wasp,'" Reed said. "We cast this woman to be in the mask who had really saucer-like, Michelle Pfeiffer eyes."

Reed went on to talk about how he managed to get Pfeiffer to come down and talk to him about the role and how she informed him that she might try to back out in the 11th hour.

"I had no idea if she would even be remotely interested in doing this kind of a movie again or how she'd feel about it. So, we met. She came over and sat in one of the conference rooms, just the two of us at Marvel and kind of talked through who Janet Van Dyne was in the comics and who she might be in this movie. She was really funny, because one of the first things she said to me, she was like, "You know. I'm going to tell you up front. My process on every single movie I have ever done in my career, I've tried to back out of the movie at the last minute. That's just my M.O.""

Reed was a little confused by Pfeiffer saying that she might try to back at the last second and wondered if he needed to woo her some more. He made sure that she got a lot comic books so Pfeiffer could see the character that she was going to be bringing to life.

Yeah. I thought about it. And I said to her, "Is this your way to say you want me to woo you more? Is that part of the thing?" She's like, "No, legitimately — yes, I want you to woo me more, but legitimately it's that kind of thing [that I try to back out of roles]." … Then after meeting her, it became more and more, "Now I'm convinced if she doesn't do it, I'm going to be a wreck." We gave her some comics. I said, "You can scour the internet and do all the research you want, but it's only going to get you so far, because the comics and that character started in the early '60s. A lot of the stuff in the comics is really two-dimensional, if not one-dimensional, and we want to do something different. We talked about what it could be, and I wanted her input throughout in terms of the character, without giving too much away. But for me it was a thrill to be working with her because she is incredible.

Janet has been missing for a long time, and Reed talked about how they are going to approach bringing her back.

When we started the process of coming up with the story and working on the script and the idea of, if we did decide to center the movie about the search around Janet van Dyne, who may or may not be alive in the Quantum Realm, "Well, OK. If she were alive, she's been in there for 30 years. How has that affected her? Who is she? Does she want to be rescued? Has she evolved into something else? What is it?" All of those questions. There were some answers in the books and the comics, but it was really for us to create.

Ant-Man and The Wasp isn't out yet, but the embargo for reviews is down, and thus far they are very positive. It's always good when a director gets the person they pictured for a role, and Pfeiffer is a legend and a welcome addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!