Paul Rudd Fills Ant-Man’s Shoes Again & Chats About Balancing Comedy and Action in Ant-Man and the Wasp

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Paul Rudd is known in the entertainment industry as the funny guy. His comic timing is so incredibly perfect. So in the first Ant-Man his character of Scott Lang emulated that hilariousness but added an action layer we had not quite seen from him before. In Ant-Man and the Wasp Rudd only enhances these two traits, and does it expertly.

Was it hard to bring up the comedic factor in Ant-Man and the Wasp?

No I think in a way it was the opposite.  Because we didn’t have to – it had already been established.  People know the characters and accept us in the roles.  And because of that we were able to lean into comedy or lean into whatever it is we were doing a little bit more, we didn’t have to explain it, we just thought people will go along with this.  

In Civil War, the Russo Brothers really wanted to lean into the comedy of it.  During the first Ant-Man there were many discussions that we all had about where do we modulate this.  How serious should Scott be, how funny. Because, you know, it’s a super hero and you’re also Ant-Man, it seemed like a strange one to begin with.  So I think everyone was finding their footing a little bit and in this one we kind of hit the ground running.

With the movie being touted as a family film (it totally is), Rudd feels that they have a special place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So many Marvel films are action packed that it’s refreshing to have a film that kids of all ages can watch. On the heels of Avengers: Infinity War it’s a nice palate cleanser.

While we want it to work within the universe and want it to be enjoyable for all ages, we’re dealing with parents and children.  This is a theme that runs throughout this story. And a lot of kids want to see these movies and sometimes there’s some scary things in them. Or there’s some violent things in them that might be a little too intense, and so we wanted to make a movie that was enjoyable for lots of people.  And as well as we wanted it to be funny, but we also wanted it to be engaging and moving in some way. We wanted it to be visually stunning, even more than the first one.  And we wanted the action and the effects to be bigger and better. 

Working with co-star Evangeline Lilly seems natural for Rudd. The chemistry on screen is perfection, even more so than the first film. And again – it’s Evangeline’s character The Wasp that really comes and saves the day.

It’s great being in a film costarring with Evangeline, that it’s a duo.  And actually the female character I think is the one who’s really better suited for the job, in all honesty.  

-Paul Rudd on Evangeline Lilly

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Was it hard to bring up the comedic factor in Ant-Man and the Wasp?It’s great being in a film costarring with Evangeline, that it’s a duo.  And actually the female character I think is the one who’s really better suited for the job, in all honesty.  Paul Rudd stars as Ant-Man in Ant-Man and the Wasp, in theaters July 6th

Paul Rudd often related to working with Abby Ryder-Fortson (she plays Cassie, Scott’s daughter), to his own daughter who is not much younger than Cassie.

As far as my character doing a scene with a girl playing my daughter, it’s not far off.  My daughter is a little bit younger but not much. And those kinds of scenes are accessible to me because I’ve been in them, I know what that’s like.  It’s one of my favorite things because I share that with my own daughter. And she loves it. At first when she was very young, I used to think, is it going to be weird. When my daughter is old enough and she sees this movie, that she’s going to see me playing dad to a little girl.  And instead it’s the opposite. I think she really- she really loves it, because I tell her, you know, you’re the real Cassie.  And I do little things in the movie that are little things for her.

Part two of my interview with Paul Rudd will be live July 9th – I cannot post it yet because it is FULL of spoilers and reactions, so stay tuned!

Paul Rudd stars as Ant-Man in Ant-Man and the Wasp, in theaters July 6th