Paul Rudd Denies Ant-Man Casting Rumors

Approached tonight on the red carpet for an Anchorman: The Legend Continues event, actor Paul Rudd–who has been reported by a number of sources over the course of the last two months to be the frontrunner to play Hank Pym in Marvel’s adaptation of Ant-Man–flatly denied those reports.”Oh, that’s all rumors man,” Paul Rudd told an Absolute Radio interviewer, shrugging and moving away from the question.When pressed,”There’s nothing you can tell us?” The actor responded, “There’s nothing I know, sorry.”Certainly it wouldn’t be without precedent for an actor to lie to protect the secrecy of a high-profile casting that somehow got out before the studio was ready–but Rudd seems believable here, so it’s difficult to guess which way to take this one.Rudd’s name was first linked to Ant-Man back in February 2013, but it wasn’t until October when some of the major industry trade papers reported that he was the guy, and since then it’s been more or less Gospel in the entertainment industry that he’s either locked in, or at the very least high on the list. At first he was mentioned side-by-side with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as frontrunners but around the same time JGL denied involvement, a new source came forward claiming that Rudd may reteam with his I Love You Man co-star Rashida Jones for the Marvel adaptation, with Jones playing Janet Van Dyne, the film’s love interest.You can check out the (brief) video interview below yourself and chime in on the comment thread if you’ve got thoughts.