ANT-MAN Report: Edgar Wright Wanted a "Smaller, Standalone Film" While Marvel Studios Did Not



Ant-Man starts filming in one week, finally. Production is set in San Francisco, for some quick filming, and then moves to Atlanta for the remainder of its production.

Things are getting smaller in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) but former writer/director Edgar Wright allegedly wanted things to be too small. This seems to be what at least part of the problem was when Marvel and Wright parted ways a few months ago. After developing Ant-Man for nearly a decade, Wright's sudden departure had a huge fan fallout.

While it has been reported that there were "creative differences" between Wright and Marvel Studios, nothing has really been confirmed beyond this. That is until a recent report by Variety.com. The trade website wrote:

"Feige has long stressed that directors don’t have the final say in Marvel’s films and that helming one of its projects requires collaboration with the executive and his team of producers. That’s needed in order to tell 'one overall movie' that Marvel is making through its franchises. That kind of process didn’t sit well with Wright who envisioned 'Ant-Man' as a smaller, standalone film."

So Wright reportedly wanted a "smaller, standalone film" and Marvel did not. While there are individual solo franchises within the MCU, each of those solo films still have a place in the much larger movie universe. Regardless of the actual size of a hero like Ant-Man, he is a new part of the MCU machine and apparently (according to this Variety report) Wright didn't see things this way.

Now, Ant-Man isn't about Wright anymore — however there will still be talk about Wright until director Peyton Reed's vision for Ant-Man is released next summer. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige did some "damage control" at Comic-Con 2014 reassuring fans Ant-Man is in good hands by talking up Reed's "nerd credentials," how he was considered to direct Guardians of the Galaxy before James Gunn was hired and that Reed was also considered to direct Fox's first Fantastic Four movie. 

"[Reed's Ant-Man is] very much in the spirit of what Edgar’s original pitch was and the entire template of the movie is what Edgar originally pitched eight years ago now..." Feige said, "...it’s headed in the right direction.”

Ant-Man is set to release in theaters on July 17, 2015.