"Anchorman" star Paul Rudd will play as Scott Lang, the man behind the mask in Marvel's upcoming "Ant-Man".
"It was pretty bumpy," revealed the actor while promoting the film at San Diego's Comic Con; expressing his thoughts on director Edgar Wright's exit on Ant Man. "I'm really sad about it. Edgar's brilliant, and Edgar brought me on. Edgar's my friend. I mean, I still talk to Edgar just about every day, almost."The actor also added: "I was elated, and it was not something I would have predicted,"
Wright's departure from "Ant-Man" and Peyton Reed's hiring as the new director has been widely reported, due to "creative differences" between the filmmaker and the studio. Rudd confirms that the reports are accurate, even if they've been
"maybe overblown a little bit lately - but it was nonetheless jarring."
Rudd admits that Wright's exit required "a rethinking of things," and collaboration with writer Adam McKay, who also directed him on both of the "Anchorman" movies. McKay initially was to take over director duties from Wright, but ended up being a writer hired to reshape the film's story.
"The story is what it was, what Edgar and Joe Cornish, who is also a genius, wrote," "But it's now gone in some new directions. There are a lot of things involved that I'm really psyched about. It's been fun sitting down with Adam and coming up with stuff."
Also joining Paul Rudd is Michael Douglas, playing the role of Hank Pym, the scientist-inventor of the shrinking technology and the original Ant-Man. Pym has been a key member of the Avengers and infamously created one of the team's most dangerous villains, Ultron. Rudd's character Scott Lang adopted the mantle from Pym after stealing the technology from its inventor in order to pull off a heist in order to provide for his daughter.
Release date for Ant-Man is on July 31, 2015.
