We’re about to enter Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the release of ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA takes us into the Quantum Realm! With themes of family, vulnerability, this just might be the most relatable installment in the MCU yet.
Secrets are uncovered and those surrounding Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) are forced to confront the truth. Peyton Reed directs, while Kevin Feige and Stephen Broussard produce.
Director Peyton Reed is asked what the signature is for these Ant-Man movies.
Reed: “The Ant-man movies have always been about family. It’s a generational story about a family of heroes. Scott Lang is getting sucked-into this world and Hope Van Dyne who is the legacied daughter of superheroes. It’s this generational thing. So young Cassie Lang is probably Scott‘s biggest motivational factor. Time with is daughter – he wants to be a the hero obviously, but it’s really about work-life balance and finding time with his daughter. We continue story of this family. We broaden that story and start to talk about the secrets that family members keep from each other. From the beginning we find out maybe Janet hasn’t told the family about her 30 years in the Quantum Realm, maybe Hope and Hank haven’t told Scott what they’re working on with Cassie in the basement and Cassie hasn’t told her dad about her time spent in jail. Everyone keep secrets from Scott at the beginning of the Movie and suddently we’re thrurst into Quantum Realm and have to face this.”.
Paul Rudd talks about reprising this fan-favourite role.
Rudd: “I think that he really does want to be a dad and I think that’s his main focus, so he’s always had a love-hate relationship with it, I think. I feel he’s now accepted it and he’s happy most of it is in the rear-view mirror and now we can have normal life and spend time together. Doesn’t last as long as he thought that it would. He’s grown a lot over the course of the movies in nine years. He’s just a regular guy, regular job, brought into group with no innate super abilities but went up and fought Thanos. He’s experienced a thing or two and he’s accepted who he is.”.
“I wouldn’t say is taking a victory lap others but others might say that, he’s written a book – a bit of Memoir and explaining everything going on in life and his experience with Avengers. He’s ready to have some time and be a normal dad. There’s some issues there as we missed out on a lot and I want to recapture some of those years. Cassie is older and has ideas of her own. We’re trying to grapple with all of that.”.
Evangeline Lilly talks to what Hope Van Dyne is up to.
Lilly: “Hope started the first Ant-Man film a very cold, detached isolaled woman. She didn’t have a lot of relationships in her life, a lot of broken relationships . Over course of three films, I’ve had this incredible arc to be able to play where she has in that time, repaired her relationship with her father, reuinted with her long-lost mother and fallen in love with Scott and she’s become a stepmom to Cassie. Life is full of love. She’s a blossomed version of the woman we met. She’s thriving, taking that love and trying to do right in the world and fix massive issues and she’s doing it with success. Then there’s this missing piece where she’d always fantasized about her mother coming home one day when she was eight years old. And she really keeps hope on the outside. And that’s a wound that’s festering at the beginning of the Film.
Kevin Feige is asked what the Quantum Realm is:
Feige: “We first saw it in first Ant-Man film. This was an idea Paul had early on, ‘What if we explore this idea of Quantum Mechanics’?. Things act very different at a quantum level and Paul was talking about all the storytelling and the imagination you can have there. The first film is the origins story and at the end of it, we got a taste of it. That led to where we took it in Endgame. It’s a place at the subatomic level where space and time act differently. It allows us to time travel and have this entire manic quantumness in this Film which Janet had only seen before. There is an entire universe below surface where we meet fun, crazy characters.”.
Michael Douglas is asked about what draws audiences to the Ant-Man films.
Douglas: “I think the Ant-Man pictures refer to family a lot. There’s a certain vulnerability and a sense of humour that exists which is a pleasure. This is really joyful as i’m learning more about experience than I’ve known. There’s a fun element which seems to relate to all different ages. Someone like me, who’s mostly referenced to R-rated movies, this has been a pleasure having younger kids coming-up and enjoying it.”.
Michelle Pfeiffer talks about Janet Van Dyne‘s secrets and choices.
Pfeiffer: “After being reuinted with my husband Hank and daughter Hope after being rescued after 30 years in the Quantum Realm, she’s savouring this time together. She’s been decidedly so secretive about her time down there and not wanting to get into that until of course, we all find ourselves down in the parallel universe and world. She’s forced to come forth with the truth in a place where she’d hoped she’d never seee again. 30 years is a long time and people have needs, let’s not be judgmental. There’s lot of suprises for the family, for some more than others. Some choices are questionable. But they’re a very forgiving family. Her story is very much a part of the whole family secrets theme that runs through the Film.
Jonathan Majors talks about his villain Kang the Conqueror.
Majors: “Who’s Kang? That’s a question we will all be answering for a very long time. Quick answer, he’s a time-travelling super-villain who’s also a nexus being. There’s multple versions of Kang. They occupy different universes, mutli-verses and have different intentions. All different beings. There’s a through-line between them and that’s the Kang gene. In a nutshell, that’s all I got. Kang the Conqueror is stuck in the Quantum Realm and he has some issues with some variants he’s not about it. When he’s down there, he met Janet.”.
Kathryn Newton has dreamed of playing a superhero and gets her wish in ANT-MAN & THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA.
Newton: “Last night at the premiere, someone asked me what the first Marvel movie was that I saw. Iron-Man is what I said and that was the first one. I was eight. Since the first time I saw a Marvel movie, I wanted to be a superhero. That was my superlative in the yearbook. I really wanted to be a part of this. I went to the movies with my dad and really wanted to be a superhero. I told myself I wanted to be the biggest superhero of all time and it’s ironic Cassie grows 40 feet, which is proof dreams do come true.”.
Producer Stephen Broussand talks about the Freedom Fighters.
Broussand: ‘When we arrive in Quantum Realm, we get thrust into a battle because Kang the Conqueror has risen to power. We meet Freedom Fighters at the tip of the sphere fighting back. It was fun introducing new characters. We meet their leader Jentorra (Katie O’Brian), Quaz (William Jackson Harper) and David Dastmalchian playing the Alien, Veb. They’re serious about defending territory and pushing back against everything they find themselves in. People are really going to enjoy meeting them.”.
Marvel Studios Canada release ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA in theatres February 17, 2023.
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