Joe Cornish Says Edgar Wright Is an Auteur and Had Too Much Creative Insight to Stay With Marvel and Make ANT-MAN

Many years ago, before Marvel kicked off what we know now as the MCU, the studio was building up a list of characters and filmmakers they wanted to work with, and one of those was director Edgar Wright. He was set to helm the Ant-Man franchise, or at least the first movie in the series, and he seemed like the perfect fit. He had already made Shaun of the Dead and was developing Hot Fuzz. He already had a devoted fanbase, and a huge imagination to fill in a Marvel-sized movie. So when it didn’t work out, fans were pretty freaking bummed.

Wright cited creative differences as the reason he parted ways with the studio, and has expressed sadness over the years that it didn’t work out. But Ant-Man screenwriter Joe Cornish (Attack the Block) has given a little more insight into his take on why it didn’t work out, and it has more to do with Marvel than it does with Wright.

In a recent interview with Playlist, Cornish said, “When Edgar and I first met Marvel, they were in offices above a BMW showroom in Beverly Hills.”

The studio was still starting out, and had a way to go to prove themselves. Cornish and Wright worked on Ant-Man for nearly a decade, but in between their agreement with Marvel and production time, Cornish said “the landscape changed completely.”

He went on to explain:

“Marvel didn’t necessarily want the authored movie that Edgar and I wanted to make because, at that point, they had... this universe where the movies had to integrate. Edgar is an auteur. Edgar Wright makes Edgar Wright movies. In the end, that’s why it didn’t happen, I guess.”

Wright went on to make Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Baby Driver, and Last Night in Soho. He absolutely does have his own signature style of filmmaking, and if Marvel didn’t think his vision fit in with theirs, it seems like it’s their loss. Although, Marvel does have a big job making sure that each of their films ties into the big picture, so if Wright wasn’t willing to make some compromises to have the story cohesive to the plan, that is also understandable on their end that they’d have to go in a different direction.

Everything worked out just fine for the Ant-Man film series, as well as for Edgar Wright, so I guess it’s okay in the end. Would you have liked to have seen Edgar Wright make the Ant-Man movies?