Paul Rudd made his fifth appearance as Ant-Man, a concept he was not well versed with just like the rest of us. Quantum Realm and theories were not a part of our everyday life until Marvel decided to spring it on us in the most cinematic way possible. Once the Multiverse was out there, every Marvel fan devoured the concept and films related to it. We often underestimate how important Ant-Man is when the Quantum Realm is concerned.
The entire existence of Ant-Man is built on Quantum Physics, today it is cool but a few years back when Marvel had just started weaving the universe together a man becoming an Ant seemed funny. Rudd himself has gotten into trouble for making fun of the concept or the content of his first Ant-Man film.
Paul Rudd laughed midway while talking about Ant-Man
Paul Rudd has said that he finds it so awkward to talk about himself in public that the executives at Marvel once reprimanded him for it. In an interview with Dax Shephard’s Armchair Expert podcast, the former Friends actor, admitted that he “wasn’t really aware” of the concept prior to being cast. Paul Rudd recalls the first time he dissed the film,
“Explaining what Ant-Man was, it seemed silly. And it was obviously something I think even Marvel was aware of, because it was like, ‘OK, when you talk about this, don’t make fun of it’.”
He continued,
“I told my son, who was eight years old at the time, that I’d been cast as a superhero in a Marvel’, and he goes, ‘who are you playing?’, and I said, ‘Ant-Man’, and he said, ‘who? Ant-Man?’ And I go, ‘well, he shrinks down to the size of an ant’ – and by the way, I’m laughing as I’m saying it. His response was, ‘I can’t wait to see how stupid that’ll be’. But it was more in reference to me than the actual property of Ant-Man. He was like, ’you’re gonna play a superhero?’.”
Even though Paul Rudd’s intention was not wrong Marvel did not enjoy the dig, at that time they were trying very hard to establish this new universe and characters. Every step was carefully taken and every movie was masterfully crafted so that it weaves itself into the larger MCU.
Marvel requested Paul Rudd to not make fun of Ant-Man
The actor revealed that sharing the conversation with his son was not the best promotion for the film and the franchise. Marvel soon reprimanded him, he shared on a US Talk show that,
“And afterwards, Marvel is like, ‘great, but hey… when you’re talking about it, maybe don’t shit on it. Just until people learn what it is’.”
The host of the show joked about Rudd’s promotional tour becoming an “Anti-promotional tour”, the sentiment resonated with Rudd as he has never been big on promotions and media campaigns. Elaborating more on his aversion to talking about himself on camera, Paul noted:
“My inclination in everything is never to sell anything. If anything it’s always to submarine it. And maybe that’s one of the reasons I don’t like doing press or anything. It’s like, ‘tell us about your new project’, and no matter what ‘my new project’ is, I always think, like, ‘why the fuck do you guys want to talk about this?. I don’t wanna talk about this’.”
He continued,
“There’s always the questions like, ‘what do you hope audiences take away?’, and I’m like, ‘I don’t know!’ I’d rather talk about what you’re up to, or something completely separate from anything.”
Paul Rudd has improved his promotional skills and did not get into any serious trouble with the MCU. He has since appeared five times as Ant-Man in MCU’s various films and three Ant-Man standalone, the latest one that is Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania might be the last Ant-Man film. Quantumania is the first film to kick off the Fifth phase of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was released on 17 February and is still running in theatres.
Source: ArmchairExpert
