News as to Edgar Wright's reason for leaving ANT-MAN at the end of this story.
When Edgar Wright was announced as the director of Marvel's ANT-MAN, we all rejoiced at such a cool and unique director getting the opportunity to make a superhero movie. Wright himself had been talking about the project for years before it became a reality and Marvel head Kevin Feige seemed to be completely in his corner. Disney even bumped the date from later in the year to the prime July 17, 2015 release date the film currently holds. Then news came of the casting of Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas as the leads in the movie with supporting cast members including Evangeline Lilly, Patrick Wilson, and many more. Now comes the unfortunate news that Wright has left the film.
According to an official release from Marvel:
Marvel and Edgar Wright jointly announced today that the studio and director have parted ways on ANT-MAN due to differences in their vision of the film. The decision to move on is amicable and does not impact the release date on July 17, 2015. A new director will be announced shortly.
The fact that the statement says that the decision to part ways was amicable does not necessarily mean it was. But, we may never know unless Marvel or Edgar Wright reveal the truth. This is the first time a Marvel project has lost a director in this manner. Directors like Jon Favreau and Kenneth Branagh have been replaced for sequels to films, but this is a new wrinkle in Marvel's otherwise impeccable armor.
We know from glimpses and tidbits from Wright that he was going for more of a heist film and something with a different feel than the other Marvel movies to date. Could the studio have had issues with going in such a distinct direction from the rest of the cinematic universe? Who knows. All I know is that I was excited for ANT-MAN primarily because of Edgar Wright. The fact they are looking to replace him and not adjust the release date could mean almost anything. Feel free to let your imaginations run wild, but we will let you know as soon as we learn anything.
ANT-MAN is slated to hit theaters July 17, 2015, for now.
UPDATE:
Latino Review claims to have the inside scoop as to why Edgar Wright may have left ANT-MAN. Per their sources, Wright was not fired from the production due to budgetary or creative reasons, but it may have had to do with interference from higher ups at Marvel/Disney. They claim that Marvel brought in new writers to try and change the tone and "morality" of ANT-MAN while also incorporating more franchise characters.
We have been hearing for a long time that Wright and Kevin Feige were on the same page, so this may have come from above Feige. After six weeks of script doctoring, Wright and co-writer Joe Cornish were apparently very dissatisfied with the changes and decided to leave rather than compromise their vision for ANT-MAN. It is unknown if Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, or any other cast will be leaving the project but it doesn't seem likely at this point. Stay tuned for more as this story develops.