UPDATED: Remember those reports about Adam McKay taking over the reigns of Marvel's Ant-Man reuniting with his Anchorman co-star Paul Rudd and attempting to break out of the broad comic niche of his past films? Yeah, that isn't happening. As this very fluid situation rolls on, THR now reports that McKay has removed his name from the Ant-Man conversation, and that the decision was his, alone.
The search for a new Ant-Man director apparently rolls on.
FROM EARLIER: Adam McKay, director of such fine films as Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy, Step Brothers, and The Other Guys has just landed the biggest project of his career. Quicker than Rob Burgundy can change into an off the rack three piece suit, the comedic genius has been tapped to lead Marvel's Ant Man, only a week after previous director Edgar Wright left, due to massive creative differences. After a short burst of speculation that placed his name on the short list with Ruben Fleischer and Rawson Thurber, we can now say confidently that McKay is the one that the studio has decided to put their trust in.
Variety confirmed today that Adam McKay is in "advanced talks" for the job, despite The Wrap's going public yesterday with an exclusive saying that Rawson Thurber was the front runner for the job. While Marvel has sworn up and down that the split was amicable, subtle hints from Edgar Wright and even James Gunn have suggested that amicable doesn't always mean simple and clean. In fact, before the short list was even revealed, rumors as recently as Thursday claimed that Gunn was the front runner for the job. Of course, those rumors were not true, and the man himself quashed them with a simple tweet.
So now that Adam McKay is the man who will bring Ant Man to cinema screens worldwide, the big question is whether he's ready or not to undertake such a task. Personally, I think he's more than ready for the opportunity to break out of comedic niche pieces and take on a more mainstream project. While it was his most uneven picture to date, The Other Guys showed that McKay has the thirst to move past simply cracking jokes, but still knows where and when to fall back on his sense of humor. This is exactly the type of director that Marvel likes to hire, and with his sensibilities being similar to that of Edgar Wright's similarly twisted viewpoint on the world, there shouldn't be too much lost in translation.
Most importantly, Paul Rudd, Ant Man's lead actor, has had plenty of experience with Adam McKay through two separate Anchorman films. No offense to Mr. Wright and his awesome sensibilities as a director of the strangely funny, but the bond between Rudd and McKay could serve to be the type of advantage that this project needs at the moment. After all, when you're working among old friends, the job just seems to fly by. Also, I'm excited to see how the director uses Michael Douglas' patented snark to its full potential, as the two of them promise to be extremely effective collaborators. If only we could get John C. Reilly's Rhomann Dey in here some how...
Marvel's Ant Man is still on course for a July 17th, 2015.
