'Ant-Man and the Wasp' Director Always Planned for Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne

Ant-Man and the Wasp introduces even more fan-favorite actors into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, [...]

Ant-Man and the Wasp introduces even more fan-favorite actors into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it sounds like one casting had been in the works for quite a bit of time.

Peyton Reed, who directed the Marvel Studios sequel, recently addressed Michelle Pfeiffer's role as Janet Van Dyne/The Wasp in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. As he revealed, even as Janet only briefly plays a role in the original Ant-Man, her flashback sequence was shot with the hopes that Pfeiffer would play the role.

"We used a double on the first movie." Reed explained. "But the whole thing was, 'I want her to look like Michelle Pfeiffer, because that would be my dream casting for Wasp.' We cast this woman to be in the mask who had really saucer-like, Michelle Pfeiffer eyes."

Reed definitely wasn't the only one who wanted Pfeiffer for the role, with Evangeline Lilly naming her as a dream casting years ago. But when it came time for Reed and company to actually pitch the role to Pfeiffer, he wasn't sure exactly how it would go.

"I had no idea if she would even be remotely interested in doing this kind of a movie again or how she'd feel about it." Reed revealed. "So, we met. She came over and sat in one of the conference rooms, just the two of us at Marvel and kind of talked through who Janet Van Dyne was in the comics and who she might be in this movie. She was really funny, because one of the first things she said to me, she was like, "You know. I'm going to tell you up front. My process on every single movie I have ever done in my career, I've tried to back out of the movie at the last minute. That's just my M.O.."

"And I said to her, 'Is this your way to say you want me to woo you more? Is that part of the thing?' She's like, 'No, legitimately — yes, I want you to woo me more, but legitimately it's that kind of thing [that I try to back out of roles].'" Reed continued. "Then after meeting her, it became more and more, 'Now I'm convinced if she doesn't do it, I'm going to be a wreck.' We gave her some comics. I said, 'You can scour the internet and do all the research you want, but it's only going to get you so far, because the comics and that character started in the early '60s. A lot of the stuff in the comics is really two-dimensional, if not one-dimensional, and we want to do something different.'"

Ultimately, Pfeiffer signed on for the role, and it's clear that the wait was more than worth it.

"We talked about what it could be, and I wanted her input throughout in terms of the character, without giving too much away." Reed added. "But for me it was a thrill to be working with her, because she is incredible."

Are you excited to see Michelle Pfeiffer make her MCU debut in Ant-Man and the Wasp? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Ant-Man and the Wasp hits theaters on July 6th. Avengers: Infinity War is in theaters now. Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, Avengers 4 on May 3, 2019, Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.

0comments