Paul Rudd Opens up About Recreating Ant-Man in Ant-Man and the Wasp

I was honored to be invited to the #AntManandWaspEvent, a Disney press junket for Marvel Studios Ant-Man and the Wasp movie, Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger, and Disney Junior’s Fancy Nancy. As a guest, my expenses were covered in return for a series of articles about my experiences and reviews of the programming.

 

Paul Rudd walks in the room to the sight and sound of us all cheering him on and giving him a round of applause. He’s caught so off guard he doesn’t know what to do other than to start clapping along.

 

Paul feeds off our enthusiasm. He says he doesn’t need coffee. He’s pumped up and so are we. With the ice broken our interview with Paul Rudd was off to a great start and I knew I was in for a special treat. Our sit-down group interview with Paul Rudd is next in our series of articles about the #AntManAndTheWaspEvent where we not only saw Ant-Man and the Wasp at an advanced screening we also interviewed several actors/actress involved with this latest Marvel Studios movie.

 

 

About Marvel Studios’ new movie Ant-Man and the Wasp

From the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, a new chapter featuring heroes with the astonishing ability to shrink. In the aftermath of CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, Scott Lang grapples with the consequences of his choices as both a super hero and a father. As he struggles to rebalance his home life with his responsibilities as Ant-Man, he’s confronted by Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym with an urgent new mission. Scott must once again put on the suit and learn to fight alongside the Wasp as the team works together to uncover secrets from the past.

 

Ant-Man and the Wasp will be released in U.S. theaters on July 6, 2018.

Take a look at the Ant-Man and the Wasp movie trailer to see what you can expect.

 

Paul Rudd talked with us about recreating Ant-Man for the Ant-Man and the Wasp movie

Paul Rudd on making the Ant-Man and the Wasp movie funny

Paul Rudd said that because Ant-Man had a history of being funny both in the first movie and in Civil War that served as an advantage that made it easier this time around.  The team “hit the ground running…. People know the characters and accept us in the roles, I think. And because of that we were able to lean into comedy or lean into whatever it is we were doing a little bit more, we didn’t have to explain it, we just thought people will go along with this.” When comparing it to the first movie, Paul added, “During the first Ant-Man there were many discussions that we all had about where do we modulate this. How serious should Scott be, how funny. Because, you know, it’s a super hero and you’re also Ant-Man, it seemed like a strange one to begin with.” I have to say I do think Ant-Man and the Wasp is funnier than the original.  

 

 

Paul Rudd talks about making sure the Ant-Man and the Wasp movie was family friendly

Paul Rudd co-wrote the script to Ant-Man and the Wasp. It’s a movie packed with action, adventure, and comedy, but the language is far different than what we are used to in Marvel films. It’s very family friendly. It doesn’t go over kids’ heads. It’s not sexual or crude. Paul felt very strongly that Ant-Man and the Wasp should be appropriate for kids.

 

“We feel that we have our own kind of space within this Marvel cinematic universe and our own tone with the films. While we want it to work within the universe and want it to be enjoyable for all ages, we’re dealing with parents and children. This is a theme that runs throughout this story. A lot of kids want to see these movies and sometimes there’s some scary things in them. Or there’s some violent things in them that might be a little too intense and- and so we wanted to make a movie that was enjoyable for lots of people. And as well as we wanted it to be funny.”

 

 

Paul Rudd talks about playing a dad in a blended family

One of the other things that Ant-Man and the Wasp does well is to show us strong parents. Not only do we see Paul Rudd as a capable dad and superhero, but we also see him coparenting with his exwife and her new husband. It’s wonderful to see how they all get along. Paul says of his character, “Like we all get along really well. It takes a village. Speaking to that stuff is important and we put a lot of thought into it and it’s nice to be a part of something like that.” Those moments between the blended family come of so sweet and genuine.

 

 

Paul Rudd talks about onscreen and offscreen father-daughter relationships and working with kids

Hearing how Paul compares his relationship to his onscreen daughter Cassie to his offscreen daughter, Darby was the point where I think all of us had that aww moment. It’s just precious and sweet. Take a look at what Paul had to say.

“Abby, the girl who plays Cassie is very talented. She’s a really good actress and a good kid.It was our second time working together, so we get along really well. I love working with her and I love doing those scenes with her.I like working with kids because you don’t really know what they’re going to do and you just kind of go off of what they’re doing and if you can establish a relationship outside of the filmmaking, just hanging around set, it can be really fun to film scenes with kids.

 

 

As far as my character doing a scene with a girl playing my daughter, it’s not far off.My daughter is a little bit younger but not much.Those kinds of scenes are accessible to me because I’ve been in them, I know what that’s like.It’s one of my favorite things because I share that with my own daughter.She loves it.At first when she was very young, I used to think, is it going to be weird that when my daughter is old enough and she sees this movie, that she’s going to see me playing dad to a little girl. Instead it’s the opposite.I think she really loves it, because I tell her, you know, you’re the real Cassie.”(To see him say that to us as if his daughter was there was just a very sweet and tender moment.) Paul continued, “I do little things in the movie that are little things for her.” 

 

Were special effects used for all those in-home scenes between Scott Lang and Abby Lang?

In the beginning of the movie, Scott Lang/Ant-Man is still under house arrest. He’s got to get very creative in finding ways to have fun with Cassie without leaving the house. He pulls out all the stops learning magic card tricks, setting up a basketball court, and building this amazing ant tunnel that ends with a toboggan sliding from an upper level of the house to the ground floor outside. We knew the scenes had to be real, but we wanted to know how long did they take to film and how much fun they were to film.

 

 

Paul told us, “The sliding down the slide took a lot longer than bouncing (the ball) off the wall.” He continued, “We did it (the sliding) in chunks. But the toboggan scenes were a blast.  When you have to shoot, normally you have to shoot scenes several times and it can get a little tedious, but the toboggan” scene wasn’t one of those scenes. They were always eager to do it again. I don’t blame them. Like Abby, it’s one of my favorite scenes too.

 

What did Paul Rudd tell us about Avengers 4?

I’m not spilling those beans, yet. You’ll have to wait for a future post about what Marvel characters are saying about Avengers 4.

 

 

Need more convincing to take the kids to see Ant-Man and the Wasp? Check out our 7 Reasons You MUST SEE the Ant-Man and the Wasp Movie with Your Kids.

 

 

Get ready to watch Disney Marvel Studios Ant-Man and the Wasp at your local theater starting July 6, 2018!

• Learn more about the Ant-Man and the Wasp movie at any of these links
  • Like ANT-MAN AND THE WASP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marvelstudios
  • Follow ANT-MAN AND THE WASP on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AntMan
  • Follow Marvel Studios on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marvelstudios
  • Like Marvel Studios on Facebook
  • Follow Marvel Studios on Twitter

   

• Get to know the talent behind the Ant-Man and the Wasp movie with these Interviews with the cast and producers
  
  • Laurence Fishburne (“Dr. Bill Foster”)
  • Hannah John-Kamen (“Ghost”)
  • Michael Douglas (“Dr. Hank Pym”)
  • Director Peyton Reed
  • Evangeline Lilly (“Hope van Dyne / The Wasp”) interview

 

 

Our #AntManAndTheWaspEvent continues next Monday, July 2 with my Evangeline Lilly (“Hope van Dyne / The Wasp”) interview. You can get caught up with our#AntManAndTheWaspEvent anytime by clicking on #AntManAndTheWaspEvent,

 

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