Evangeline Lilly has spoken out regarding Edgar Wright‘s departure as writer and director of the upcoming Ant-Man movie, a movie he was working on for years only be unceremoniously bounced from the project and replaced by Peyton Reed, whose filmography semi-ironically includes titles such as Yes Man and Bring It On. A lot has been written about the whys of Wright’s departure, but I think these new quotes from Lilly pretty much paint a crystal clear picture as to why we’re not getting an Edgar Wright movie in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe.
“[I was] shocked and mortified, at first,” Lilly told Buzzfeed upon hearing the news Wright was no longer directing the picture. “Actually, I wouldn’t say mortified. You know, a creative project is a moving target. You never end up where you start. But we all, I think, signed on very enthusiastically with Edgar. We were excited to work with Edgar. We were fans of Edgar. So when the split happened, I was in the fortunate position where I had not signed my contract yet. So I had the choice to walk away, and I almost did. Because I thought, ‘Well, if it’s because Marvel are big bullies, and they just want a puppet and not someone with a vision, I’m not interested in being in this movie.’ Which is what I was afraid of.”
Lilly, however, was able to make peace with Marvel’s decision. “I saw with my own eyes that Marvel had just pulled the script into their world,” she said. “I mean, they’ve established a universe, and everyone has come to expect a certain aesthetic [and] a certain feel for Marvel films. And what Edgar was creating was much more in the Edgar Wright camp of films. They were very different. And I feel like, if [Marvel] had created Edgar’s incredible vision — which would have been, like, classic comic book — it would have been such a riot to film [and] it would have been so much fun to watch. [But] it wouldn’t have fit in the Marvel Universe. It would have stuck out like a sore thumb, no matter how good it was. It just would have taken you away from this cohesive universe they’re trying to create. And therefore it ruins the suspended disbelief that they’ve built.”
On the one hand, this is completely understandable. Marvel has a template and they were too scared to take things in another direction, risking alienating the audience that has come to expect the same thing time and again. These movies are cash cows and to risk a misstep now is apparently perceived by Marvel as something that could bring the whole house down.
The counter-argument to that is Marvel runs the risk of becoming stale, though they definitely showed there was a little wiggle room with the formula with Guardians of the Galaxy and as long as they continue to introduce new protagonists it will likely remain enough to keep familiar and new audiences appeased. Ant-Man fits into that idea along with upcoming new franchises including Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange and Inhumans.
The one thing I think this Marvel formula truly hinders, however, is any hope for a true classic comic book movie, something that isn’t just a box office success, but something that will be looked at for years to come as a movie that really energized the genre. Spider-Man, X2, The Dark Knight and, maybe, The Avengers certainly managed to do that over the last 10+ years on the heels of Richard Donner‘s Superman and Tim Burton‘s Batman and it’s hard to look at the next ten years of planned superhero movies as anything more than just pieces in a larger puzzle rather than something independently amazing.
While there are those of us that would have loved to see this “classic” Wright might have delivered, we can all rest assured Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man will have that safe storyline and clever wit all the other Marvel movies have delivered with talented names bringing it to life. After all, it has Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas along with Michael Pena, Bobby Cannavale and Judy Greer. You’ve got to give Marvel credit on one front, they do know how to assemble a cast.
Ant-Man arrives July 17, 2015.
