Edgar Wright Was Offered One of Fox’s X-Men Movies

Edgar Wright is known for directing many big films, including Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which is getting its own anime on Netflix next month. Throughout his career, Wright has also come close to making some Marvel films. Many know the story of how he was originally supposed to direct Ant-Man, but made the “heartbreaking” decision to leave the project, citing creative differences with Marvel Studios. Turns out, he was also offered to helm one of Fox’s X-Men films. According to Simon Kinberg, who has worked on many X-Men movies in various roles ranging from producer and writer to director, he “chased” Wright for an X-Men film.

“He’s one of my favorite directors of all time and one of my favorite people, just a super great guy. Obviously a cinephile… I’ve chased Edgar for X-Men movies. I’ve chased him for literally every possible thing. We have talked about every movie,” Kinberg shared with /Film. 

Ant-Man Writer Talks Edgar Wright’s Marvel Exit:

Joe Cornish, who helped co-write the first Ant-Man movie, talked about Wright’s exit from the project earlier this year.

“We worked on [Ant-Man] for something like eight years, on and off. And in that time, the landscape changed completely,” Cornish told The Playlist. “The technology changed completely. Audiences fell in love with superhero movies. All the stuff that people loved in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s in comic books were suddenly translated on screen in a really direct way that had never happened before.”  

“That kind of overtook us in the sense that Marvel didn’t necessarily want the authored movie that Edgar and I wanted to make because, at that point, they had this behemoth on their hands. They had this universe where the movies had to integrate. Edgar is an auteur. Edgar Wright makes Edgar Wright movies. In the end, that’s why it didn’t happen, I guess. Having said that, a lot of our stuff is still in there, and I really like that movie. We’re as excited as anybody to see where it goes next. We feel connected to that cast as well because Edgar cast it. The designs are still in it. There are still a couple of little Edgar Wright ants scuttling around invisibly in those movies,” he added.

Are you hoping Edgar Wright will direct a Marvel movie one day? Tell us in the comments!