Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania Director Peyton Reed Discusses Finding The Voice Of Kang [Exclusive Interview]
Remember when that "Hey, look at us" clip of "Ant-Man" star Paul Rudd went viral, largely thanks to Paul Rudd's infectious and charming "aw shucks" appeal? That perfectly sums up many of the feelings surrounding the fact that Ant-Man — of all Marvel superheroes — is about to receive his very own trilogy of movies with the impending release of "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania." And not only that, but all indications are that the threequel is about to shake up the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a big way, mostly through the introduction of Jonathan Majors' Kang the Conqueror. The multiverse-traveling big bad has a lot riding on his big-screen debut, which is something director Peyton Reed and writer Jeff Loveness were well aware of throughout production on the film.
From a behind-the-scenes perspective, "Quantumania" sets itself apart in a few other ways, as well. For one thing, this marks only the second time one lone director will have completed an entire trilogy of movies in the MCU, coming after Jon Watts did the same with "Spider-Man" (though with the caveat that those were Marvel/Sony co-productions, whereas "Ant-Man" remains under Marvel's exclusive purview) and narrowly beating James Gunn and his "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies by just a few months. Similarly, "Quantumania" finds itself among rare company as one of the very few Marvel movie scripts to be credited to just a single writer.
When I got a chance to chat with Reed, I made sure to ask him about the rare chance to direct a trilogy for Marvel, his writing collaborations with Loveness and Rudd, and how they helped create a version of Kang that we'll love to hate.
Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
'There were things we set up in the first two movies that we definitely wanted to pay off'
Are you aware that you've done something with the release of "Quantumania" that only one other director in the entire MCU has done before? You've helmed a trilogy of movies in the MCU. Did you ever envision that when you first joined "Ant-Man" back in 2015 that you would end up here?
[Laughs] I mean, I think it would've probably been presumptuous with the first movie to say, "Oh, we're going to do a trilogy!" You never know. Our concerns back then were really, "Is the audience going to accept a character called Ant-Man who shrinks and talks to ants?" And fortunately, I think largely because Paul Rudd is so great as Scott Lang, he connected with audiences. But for me, I'm thrilled. We've made a third "Ant-Man" and we decided we wanted to paint on an even larger canvas for this one. There were things we set up in the first two movies that we definitely wanted to pay off in this movie, the Quantum Realm being chief among them.
We sort of dipped our toe into the Quantum Realm in the first couple of movies. But we owed the audience, I think, this explanation of what the hell was Janet van Dyne doing in the Quantum Realm for 30 years. She wasn't just wandering around this void with a walking cane for 30 years. She had a whole, full life down there. And we loved the idea, too, of starting this movie with people keeping secrets. The idea of what do family members not tell each other, and that Janet was really withholding a lot about her time down there, and maybe even had a version of PTSD because of what happened. And of course, we reveal throughout the course of the movie that she had a very full life down there and, in fact, came into contact with Kang the Conqueror, and it did not work out so well for either of them.
'He really helped us find the voice of Kang'
On both of the previous "Ant-Man" movies, you worked with different scripts that were credited to several different writers. This time, in "Quantumania," it's solely credited to Jeff Loveness. Did that affect the development and your process in any tangible way compared to the previous movies?
Yeah, listen. I'm a massive fan of Jeff's. I mean, he is a brilliant, comedic mind as we know. But he knows the Marvel Universe, the comics universe, in and out. He's really well-versed and steeped in history. He really helped us find the voice of Kang. We talked a lot about Alexander the Great, and we talked about Napoleon and all the sort of templates for that temperament of a conqueror, and particularly Napoleon when he was exiled, right? He knows his stuff and he's also such an enthusiastic human being, and I'm very proud of the fact that he's the only credited writer on this movie. I think there's a voice there. We worked really closely together throughout the entire process, and with Paul Rudd, and with Stephen Broussard, our producer, in how we were going to tell this story.
But Jeff, he loves writing. The lines that come out of Kang's mouth, he was so crucial in finding that voice. We talked a lot about, "What is this villain like? He's got dominion over time. He can travel throughout the Multiverse, and what's it like being in the presence of someone like that, and this economy of energy?" When Kang speaks, it's very slowly, but it's very deliberate and you better listen, which is a very different energy than Scott Lang in this movie. And that excited us, too, putting those two energies on a collision course.
'He's a really talented writer in his own right'
You mentioned Paul Rudd's contributions. He's actually credited on the script for both of your previous "Ant-Man" movies as well.
That's right. Yeah.
And you mentioned in the press conference, too, that it was sort of his idea to explore the quantum mechanics of it all in the first place. Did he have any other contributions to the script, or even just ideas that he threw out there, that you can remember?
Yeah, on the first movie, Adam McKay and Paul were doing rewrites on the script, and we all talked about the Microverse from the comics. And McKay is a super comics nerd, too. For that movie, it gave us this extra thing in the third act of, we'd seen a lot of shrinking at that point in the movie. Let's go down even further and create this sort of cautionary tale of Quantum Realm. But Paul's always great about whatever point he comes in. Even with Loveness on this thing, we'll sit around, talk about it, and figure out alternate ways to come to a scene, to get from point A to point B, and always keeping it in Scott Lang's voice.
But also, we'll do a version of the scene, but whenever you take a scene from the written page to the stage, you start to block it and get it on its feet, and you're working in three dimensions now and, "Oh, the thing that's on the page doesn't really work anymore." Paul's always great about living and being in the moment and making sure that there's an immediacy to what's going on, and coming up with weird, left-field ways to approach a scene. He's brilliant at that. He's a really talented writer in his own right.
'There's got to be a reason for making it'
Since "Thor: Love and Thunder" has shown that Marvel's willing to go beyond a trilogy of movies, I have to ask: Do you think, if it's in the cards for a possible "Ant-Man 4," you would return for that?
Well, it's all too soon to tell. I felt that way about every movie. I think you've got to see how the audience connects with this movie. So, I always feel like it's dangerous to sort of say, "Oh yeah, yeah. We're going to do another one. Of course. Whatever." Well, it's got to be the right story, right? There's got to be a reason for making it. "Quantumania," to me, there was a big reason for making it. It was one, the Quantum Realm, but two, the spine of these movies, they've always been about family. And really, that Scott/Cassie relationship is such a crucial one.
We inherited this great concept from the events of "Endgame," which is, Scott's lost another five years with Cassie. She's no longer a little girl. She's a young woman. She's 18 now. This movie sort of starts to tell the arc of her becoming a hero in her own right, but also the idea that she's not her dad. She has very different ideas about justice and what are the issues at hand and the problems the world was facing. And she's quite critical of her dad. "You're signing books, man. You should be out there doing this other stuff." And that felt like a sort of real dynamic between a father and his young daughter.
"Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" comes to theaters on February 17, 2023.