Edgar Wright Backs out of Marvel’s ‘Ant Man’
Marvel Antman. Image Credit: schmoesknows.com
For those of you who missed the social media backlash on Friday, we can unfortunately now inform you that British funny man Edgar Wright is no longer onboard to pen Marvel’s Antman thanks to creative differences with the media magnates.
The film, whose release will mark the beginning of Phase Three in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, has been in the works as far back as the late 1980’s when Stan Lee himself pitched the film to Marvel’s then owners New World Entertainment. However there was very little movement until 2006 when Wright became attached to the project as director and co-screenwriter, drawing excitement from both Marvel fans and those from his own fanbase, due to his earlier directing successes, particularly his collaboration with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost on the british cult favourites, the “Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy” (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End) as well as his screen adaptation of the Scott Pilgrim vs The World graphic novel to name a few.
It was intended to be an exciting venture, with Wright’s natural talent for humour ensuring, in some fans’ minds, that the film would be an instant success. His excitement for the project was undeniable, as were his intentions to make the project the best it could be. So it comes as no surprise that fans were keen to express their discontent at the news on Friday afternoon.
Even Avengers Assemble director Joss Whedon tweeted to express his solidarity in the matter…
— Joss Whedon (@josswhedon)
However Friday’s statement from Marvel announcing Wright’s departure made it clear that the split was amicable, and the search for a new director was underway to keep the project on track for it’s scheduled release of 17th July 2015.
Despite my own personal disappointment at the loss of such a natural talent from the film, I am confident that whoever takes over will be equally as successful, after all with Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas onboard, how can you go wrong?
Stay tuned to Focus to find out the name of the new director when it’s announced.
