While talking Baby Driver with io9, Edgar Wright recalled his departure from Marvel’s Ant-Man and shared what he could about his decision to leave the film.
I can only speak to my experience, really. And I think my situation was something where it was a heartbreaking decision to leave, but it was ultimately a binary one. I had been a writer/director on [Ant-Man] for, like, eight years. At that point where I wasn’t the writer anymore, I was immediately less emotionally invested in the whole thing. Ironically, I did end up getting a writing credit on the movie but that was after I’d gone:
Born from “creative differences,” Wright and Marvel’s decision to go separate ways was especially tough for Wright, who had worked on the film off and on for eight years between some of his other projects. Despite the heartbreak, there’s only one real regret Wright has about the experience:
I have no regrets about not doing it. I regret the time wasted. I actually had dinner with Paul Rudd [recently] in New York, and we’d seen each other before, but this was probably the first time we’d sat down since all of that and I was like, “Well, at least I got my friend cast in that movie.” All of that led to [Baby Driver], because when I left, the majority of my crew—I think, all of my crew—left with me. So, then I felt a responsibility to them to get them on another project.
Ultimately, it was director Peyton Reed who finished up the film – and who will return to direct the sequel, Ant-Man and The Wasp – while Wright, Joe Cornish, Adam McKay, and Paul Rudd received screenplay credits. However, Wright hasn’t even seen Ant-Man nor does he want to.
Marvel’s Ant-Man and The Wasp starring Paul Rudd as Scott Lang a.k.a. Ant-Man, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne a.k.a. the Wasp, Michael Peña as Luis, Tip “T.I.” Harris, David Dastmalchian as Kurt and Hannah John-Kamen, is set to come out in theaters on July 6, 2018.
Source: io9
