Last week countless fans were left heartbroken with the news that director Edgar Wright was no longer going to direct Ant-Man. It was a pure stunner, considering it was a passion project for Wright who had been attached to it as long as we can remember. It was safe to guess that Wright and Marvel had clashed in some way with the direction of the film, we just weren’t sure of the full details.
Now that the dust has settled (somewhat), we have learned a bit more about just what happened. According to Latino-Review, the film had rewrites done in response to some notes that the head honchos over at Marvel had about the script. This was in regards to the morality of the film, as well as the inclusion of various Marvel franchise characters, and all that good stuff. Ant-Man screenwriters Joe Cornish and Wright sent in two drafts in response to the notes, in order to make Marvel happy, but also maintain their vision. Unfortunately this is easier said than done, and it resulted in Marvel taking the script from them and assigning two low credit writers (one is in Marvel’s in-house writing team) with the task. This surely didn’t please Wright, but he stayed cool (at the time).
Last week the script came back and apparently wiped away the vision that Wright was going for, which was enough for him to meet with Marvel last Friday to formally exit – and the rest is history.
Since then, we have had various responses from disappointed parties (close to Marvel) such as Avengers director Joss Whedon, who tweeted out a very pro-Wright photo with a Cornetto in hand, and Guardians Of The Galaxy director James Gunn who sent out a more equal sided but wonderful response on facebook. Wright himself broke silence with a tweet, but then shortly removed. The tweet contained an image of Buster Keaton sitting lonesomely with a Cornetto. A subtle, but powerful gesture.
As a huge fan of Wright, I am very stunned and sad that he is no longer going to direct Ant-Man. He really seemed like the perfect man for the job, but it just wasn’t meant to be. This does cast a dark shadow on the project, but here’s hoping that someone else can step in an salvage it, and Wright can move on to something else (maybe with good old Pegg & Frost).
Join the conversation