Last Friday brought the news that Marvel and Edgar Wright have parted ways after eight years of development on Ant-Man, throwing the first Phase Three offering of the Marvel Cinematic Universe into turmoil as the studio looks to keep the production on track for its proposed July 17th, 2015 release date.
Now The Hollywood Reporter has revealed the reason behind Wright’s departure with a report that echoes an earlier post from Latino-Review, suggesting that the split came about due to enforced rewrites from Marvel chief Kevin Feige. Apparently Marvel was unhappy with the script by Wright and Joe Cornish for several weeks, and produced rewrites without Wright’s involvement, which the British filmmaker subsequently deciding to walk from the project.
As well as having to find a new director for Ant-Man, Marvel will also need to fill several other key production roles, with the film’s heads of department also allegedly exiting the project due to the July 28th production start date now looking unlikely.
Assuming the cast remain as is, Ant-Man will see Paul Rudd (Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues) leading the cast as Scott Lang alongside Michael Douglas (Behind the Candelabra) as Hank Pym, while Patrick Wilson (Watchmen), Evangeline Lilly (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), Corey Stoll (House of Cards), Matt Gerald (Escape Plan) and Michael Pena (American Hustle) are also set to feature.
Originally published May 28, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
