Ant-Man and the Wasp Director Reveals Michelle Pfeiffer Almost Backed Out From the Movie

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Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp is scheduled to premiere this week. Naturally, there is already a ton of fanfare surrounding the movie. Throughout the production’s press rounds, more details about the Ant-Man sequel made their way onto the news cycle.

Arguably, fans are most excited about Michelle Pfeiffer’s return to the comic book world. And according to the movie’s director Pfeiffer’s appearance on Ant-Man and the Wasp almost never happened.

Recently, Peyton Reed, the movie’s director, spoke with The Hollywood Reporter in order to promote his upcoming feature. During the interview, Reed spoke candidly about choosing Pfeiffer to play the role of Janet van Dyne aka the original Wasp.

Reed explains that he already had the actress in mind during the production of the first movie. In fact, he purposely selected a double in the first movie that looked like Pfeiffer:

“We used a double on the first movie. But the whole thing was, ‘I want her to look like Michelle Pfeiffer, because that would be my dream casting for Wasp. We cast this woman to be in the mask who had really saucer-like, Michelle Pfeiffer eyes.”

Nevertheless, Reed was still very nervous about approaching the seasoned actress about the role he wanted her to play. It has been more than two decades since Pfeiffer played a comic book character – Selina Kyle aka Catwoman. Reed was worried that she was no longer interested in playing similar parts:

“I had no idea if she would even be remotely interested in doing this kind of a movie again or how she’d feel about it. So, we met. She came over and sat in one of the conference rooms, just the two of us at Marvel and kind of talked through who Janet Van Dyne was in the comics and who she might be in this movie.”

While their meeting was a blast, it didn’t help the director’s nerves when the actress made it clear to that she has a history of backing out on movie projects:

“She was really funny, because one of the first things she said to me, she was like, “You know. I’m going to tell you up front. My process on every single movie I have ever done in my career, I’ve tried to back out of the movie at the last minute. That’s just my M.O.”

Nevertheless, Reed was successful in signing on the iconic Michelle Pfeiffer. During the interview, Reed further revealed what fans should expect from Pfeiffer’s character in the movie. According to Reed, the comic books lacked information about Janet Van Dyne. For the most part, they have to create a story for themselves:

“Well, OK. If she were alive, she’s been in there for 30 years. How has that affected her? Who is she? Does she want to be rescued? Has she evolved into something else? What is it?” All of those questions. There were some answers in the books and the comics, but it was really for us to create.”

Ant-Man and the Wasp is scheduled to premiere on July 6, 2018 across the United States.