Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will most definitely be stunned by this, but Marvel have just announced that Edgar Wright has ‘amicably’ left ANT-MAN, a film not only slated to arrive in July 2015, not only almost completely cast, not only co-written by Wright himself, but also a film that Wright has been attached to since before the MCU even got underway as he was hired to write and direct the film all the back in 2006, 2 years before IRON MAN hit cinemas. The official statement read as follows:
Marvel and Edgar Wright jointly announced today that the studio and director have parted ways on ANT-MAN due to differences in their vision of the film. The decision to move on is amicable and does not impact the release date on July 17, 2015. A new director will be announced shortly.
This isn’t the first time that Marvel have clashed with actors and directors before with bust-ups or at least rumoured bust-ups involving Edward Norton, Mickey Rourke, one time THOR 2 director Patty Jenkins as well as her replacement, Alan Taylor. Marvel are notorious for having a certain vision and not allowing too much creative freedom within those confines. However Edgar Wright was on board for 8 years, his vision for ANT-MAN apparently being very well received (test footage from the film was screened at Comic Con in 2012 and looked very cool) and Kevin Feige himself talked about how they had tweaked their MCU plans to accomodate the film. All of this makes it extremely puzzling as to exactly what kind of creative issues the two parties could have had. As of now, the film’s cast including Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, and Corey Stoll are all still on board and the film is still set to come out as scheduled. However it is hard not to be incredibly disappointed by this latest development. We’ll of course bring you all the latest news on the film, including the search for a new director, right here on this site.
P.S. UPDATED with Joss Whedon’s response:
— Joss Whedon (@josswhedon) May 24, 2014
Source: Marvel
