Marvel decided to recruit acting veteran Michael Douglas for their stable of superhero films by casting him in Ant-Man. He would co-star alongside Paul Rudd, who was chosen as the film’s titular character.
But behind-the scenes issues meant the film had to go through a few rewrites. When Rudd started revising parts of the film himself, Douglas couldn’t help voice his concerns.
Michael Douglas was cast in ‘Ant-Man’ after doing a pretty awful period piece
Douglas is usually known for starring in more grounded films. He mostly built his career off of movies like Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction, and Falling Down. Ant-Man was the first time the Oscar-winner participated in, not only a superhero project, but one that heavily utilized special effects. He was attracted to the movie because he was interested in being a part of Marvel’s growing machine.
“Well, I just wanted to do one of these pics, you know. Just I’ve never done, you know, my entire career, is a lot of movies has just been contemporary stories, with no special effects, no nothing, just kind of psychological real kind of stories,” Douglas told Collider in a 2015 interview.
Douglas was also coming off of a project that he wasn’t too proud of. This made him appreciate Ant-Man even more.
“So, you know, I did only one period picture that will remain, you guys will find it. Its not a really good picture at all. So, this to me was just the excitement of saying hey, this is great. I want to get into Marvel world, you know. I want to taste the kool-aid,” he said.
Michael Douglas disapproved of Paul Rudd rewriting the script for ‘Ant-Man’
Ant-Man had slight drama behind the scenes when the project was developing. The feature was initially supposed to be directed by Baby Driver director Edger Wright. Wright had his own vision in mind for the miniature superhero, but his vision for the character seemed to clash with Marvel’s.
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Wright attempted to rewrite his script a few times to accommodate Marvel’s tastes. But eventually Marvel would bring in their own team of writers to modify the Ant-Man script. The changes and Wright’s reduced involvement in Ant-Man convinced the director to walk away from the film entirely.
“I was the writer-director on it and then they wanted to do a draft without me, and having written all my other movies, that’s a tough thing to move forward thinking if I do one of these movies I would like to be the writer-director,” Wright said on Variety’s Playback Podcast.
Rudd pitched in and helped with rewrites of Ant-Man, adding in his own humor. But Douglas was uncomfortable with Rudd taking on a writer’s position, something the actor wasn’t used to seeing in movies.
“They were going through a few drafts. Paul was brought in, that was certainly not initially part of the whole thing, for him to write. I did raise my hand a little bit, because I didn’t know Paul that well. I said, excuse me, but the leading actor writing the script, uhhhh, you know, no, no we’re watching, alright fine,” Douglas recalled.
Michael Douglas was impressed by Paul Rudd as a leading man
After getting to know Rudd, Douglas had nothing but kind words to say about his co-star. Knowing what it was like being a leading man himself, the Wall Street actor respected what Rudd brought to the table.
“Paul is just a sweetheart. He’s just a great, great guy so it sets the tone. Most of my career I’ve been number one on a call sheet, the lead, and so to be in a supporting role in a picture like this, you watch how he does it, you assume a lot of responsibility. If you’re smart, if you’re the first, you set the tone. You’re the first one on the set, you make everybody else comfortable to make their best performances possible,” Douglas once told MamasGeeky.
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