Former Ant-Man director Edgar Wright & Marvel’s Kevin Feige make amends

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World made him a prime and unique candidate to lend his directorial talents to the MCU when he was set up to him 2015's Ant-Man. The MCU has found great success rallying behind directorial talent that doesn't necessarily have big budget sensibilities but differences arose between Wright and Marvel boss Kevin Feige which caused the director to walk away from the project. Now that some time has passed since Wright almost had his time with Ant-Man, the director is revealing in an interview with "Empire" that things have been difficult from a professional standpoint between him and Feige but they have recently buried the hatchet.

Wright first details that he had not really spoken to Feige since he walked off the film in 2014:

"I'll be honest, I had not spoken to Kevin Feige since I walked off Ant-Man. You know, there wasn't any real animosity or outright hostility between us, it was all very diplomatic at the time, but in that situation you go your separate ways and there was no reason to get back in touch. So I just had never spoken to him or vice versa. Aside from the movie itself, we had been friends, so it was a sad thing – aside from the professional aspect of it, we had been good pals."

Bringing Wright and Feige to a place to make amends actually happened via an issue of "Empire" where he was asked to look for the greatest cinematic moments of recent times. Wright took to social media to ask fans their opinion to help him with the issue and many of them suggested scenes like Captain America wielding Thor's hammer or Hulk tossing Loki around like a ragdoll. It became clear to Wright that the article wouldn't work without addressing the impact of the MCU on pop culture so the director decided it was time to clear the air with Feige by asking him for help with the article.

"I thought it would be disingenuous of me to get through this article without mentioning the 'M' word once. So I did what I hadn't done in six years – I just emailed Kevin. It was a really nice thing, and Kevin was really touched that I'd reached out to him directly and just said, 'Hey'. Also it was funny after six years of no contact to email him just saying, 'Kevin, I need you to write something for me, and I need it tomorrow!' So it was nice, we basically reconnected over this article and it was very sweet. I'm very glad I did it, and I was very happy that his response was so- he was really touched that I had reached out, and I feel what he wrote was great. I told him that I read what he'd said about Aliens to James Cameron, which he said was just wild. So it was nice, it's a nice happy ending to that story."

Creative differences are very common in Hollywood, and sometimes they result in fractured relationships. Wright has a personal vision for Ant-Man that just didn't mesh with what Kevin Feige wanted so he had to walk away from the project instead of sacrificing his vision for the film. Peyton Reed ultimately stepped in to direct Ant-Man and it's a role he continues as they head into the third film and all is well on the Marvel side. As for Wright, he still continues to be one of the most unique voices working in the industry today, and I'm glad that this tale of creative differences between himself and Feige actually has a happy ending.