Paul Rudd really did go WTF when it came to joining the MCU almost a decade ago.
The “Ant-Man” star looked back on signing on to the standalone superhero film that was released in 2015.
“My agent set up a meeting with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Marvel was pretty new. They weren’t even part of Disney,” Rudd said in a Men’s Health cover story. “It would’ve been like somebody saying, ‘How would you feel about doing “Dancing with the Stars”?’ A superhero franchise was never on my radar.”
Rudd continued, “I never really thought I was the type of actor that they would offer any of those parts to. But when this idea came around, I was excited about doing something that was so out of left field, and I knew that if it was announced that I was going to be joining a superhero franchise, most people would say, ‘What the fuck?’ And I got to wear a superhero suit.”
Rudd was rumored to initially be suggested as Ant-Man by then writer-director Edgar Wright before the filmmaker stepped away from the project due to creative differences. Wright’s co-writer Joe Cornish recently said that it was Wright’s “auteur”-ism that led to his departure from the MCU.
Now, Rudd is leading third solo film “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” after appearing (and playing a pivotal role) in multiple “Avengers” films. “Quantumania” is the crux of the next Phase of Marvel with Jonathan Majors playing villain Kang the Conqueror.
Yet Rudd admitted he was always used to making “left field” decisions in his own career long before joining the ranks of Marvel superheroes. Following his 1995 breakout film “Clueless,” Rudd opted to do a play in New York for a year as opposed to a movie.
“My agent said, ‘What are you doing?’ My career was just starting,” Rudd recalled. “But I had a real clear vision then of what I wanted and how I wanted to do it. I didn’t want to be considered a joke among actors who I really admire. I really wanted to learn how to do this right. I had a real focus. Certainly some of the movies were not as good as I’d imagined, but they were beneficial, each in their own way.”
Among those beneficial moves was cult classic “Wet Hot American Summer” starring a now A-list ensemble cast. “Without that, I don’t know if I get to do ‘Anchorman,’ which was seminal,” Rudd said. “And I’ve gotten to work with Judd Apatow for years now.”
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
