Edgar Wright On His “Heartbreaking” Split From Ant-Man

Directors come and go in Hollywood, and the moviegoers were reminded of that fact not too long ago. When news broke that the Han Solo movie’s directors suddenly exited the feature, Marvel fans had flashbacks to when Edgar Wright did the same thing with Ant-Man. And, now, the director is speaking candidly about the “heartbreaking” ordeal.

Currently, Wright is doing press rounds for his new film Baby Driver. io9 had a chance to speak Wright where the topic of Ant-Man came up. While the director said there’s not much he can talk about, Wright did say the decision to walk back from Ant-Man was immensely difficult.

“It was a heartbreaking decision to leave, but it was ultimately a binary one,” Wright confessed.

“I had been a writer/director on [Ant-Man] for, like, eight years. At that point where I wasn’t the writer anymore, I was immediately less emotionally invested in the whole thing. Ironically, I did end up getting a writing credit on the movie but that was after I’d gone.

Wright stressed he has no regrets about doing Ant-Man though he wishes he had not wasted so much time on the film.

“I regret the time wasted,” the director said. “I actually had dinner with Paul Rudd [recently] in New York, and we’d seen each other before, but this was probably the first time we’d sat down since all of that and I was like, “Well, at least I got my friend cast in that movie.” All of that led to this movie, because when I left, the majority of my crew — I think, all of my crew — left with me. So, then I felt a responsibility to them to get them on another project.”

Wright’s split from Ant-Man is one which fans often scrutinized. The director spent nearly a decade working with Marvel Studios on Ant-Man, so his leave was shocking to say the least. Details about Wright’s exit have remained secret and will likely stay that way thanks to contracts and outright professionalism. However, it does seem like Wright isn’t too interested in seeing how Marvel Studios ultimately treated Scott Lang. Earlier this week, Wright admitted he has even seen the trailer for Ant-Man, and he has no plans to screen the film anytime soon.

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Ant-Man and the Wasp currently has a 3.93 out of 5 ComicBook.com User Anticipation Rating. Let us know how much you’re looking forward to Ant-Man and the Wasp by giving it your own ComicBook.com User Anticipation Rating below. Ant-Man and the Wasp is set to open in theaters on July 6, 2018.

In Ant-Man, forced out of his own company by former protégé Darren Cross, Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) recruits the talents of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a master thief just released from prison. Lang becomes Ant-Man, trained by Pym and armed with a suit that allows him to shrink in size, possess superhuman strength and control an army of ants. The miniature hero must use his new skills to prevent Cross, also known as Yellowjacket, from perfecting the same technology and using it as a weapon for evil.

Ant-Man was directed by Peyton Reed, with a screenplay by Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish and Adam McKay & Paul Rudd, and stars Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Anthony Mackie, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian, and Michael Douglas.

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