Peyton Reed Discusses The Challenge of Getting Michelle Pfeiffer in ANT-MAN AND THE WASP and Also Teases ANT-MAN 3 Plans

Ant-Man and The Wasp has such a fantastic cast of actors! The fact that Marvel was able to bring together acting legends Michael Douglas, Laurence Fishburne and Michelle Pfeifer into one movie is pretty incredible! 

Turns out that Michelle Pfeiffer wasn't an easy catch though, and she was playing hard to get. Director Peyton Reed wanted her for the role of Janet Van Dyne from the very beginning. He even cast someone in the first film as a double for her. Someone who had those "really saucer-like, Michelle Pfeiffer eyes."

Then when she took a meeting with Reed, she made sure to tell him upfront that she has a history of wanting to back out of film projects at the last minute. Which, as you'd imagine, kind of freaked him out. While talking to THR in an interview, he talked about the process of getting Pfeiffer on board, saying:

"I had no idea if she would even be remotely interested in doing this kind of a movie again or how she'd feel about it. So, we met. She came over and sat in one of the conference rooms, just the two of us at Marvel and kind of talked through who Janet Van Dyne was in the comics and who she might be in this movie. She was really funny, because one of the first things she said to me, she was like, 'You know. I'm going to tell you up front. My process on every single movie I have ever done in my career, I've tried to back out of the movie at the last minute. That's just my M.O.'"

At least she warned him up front! He went on to say:

"Yeah. I thought about it. And I said to her, 'Is this your way to say you want me to woo you more? Is that part of the thing?' She's like, 'No, legitimately — yes, I want you to woo me more, but legitimately it's that kind of thing [that I try to back out of roles].' … Then after meeting her, it became more and more, 'Now I'm convinced if she doesn't do it, I'm going to be a wreck.' We gave her some comics. I said, 'You can scour the internet and do all the research you want, but it's only going to get you so far, because the comics and that character started in the early '60s. A lot of the stuff in the comics is really two-dimensional, if not one-dimensional, and we want to do something different.' We talked about what it could be, and I wanted her input throughout in terms of the character, without giving too much away. But for me it was a thrill to be working with her because she is incredible."

It's great that she didn't end up backing out! She didn't have a ton of screentime in the film, but it was really interesting to see what they did with her character. I loved the direction they took her. He went on to talk about building the story of Janet Van Dyne in the sequel, saying:

"When we started the process of coming up with the story and working on the script and the idea of, if we did decide to center the movie about the search around Janet van Dyne, who may or may not be alive in the Quantum Realm, 'Well, OK. If she were alive, she's been in there for 30 years. How has that affected her? Who is she? Does she want to be rescued? Has she evolved into something else? What is it?' All of those questions. There were some answers in the books and the comics, but it was really for us to create.

Later on in the interview, Reed was asked about his aspirations for Ant-Man 3, which he still isn't sure will happen or not. But if it does happen, he has an idea of where he would like to take the story and characters next:

"I'll answer that question really honestly. Who knows, because I suspect, I don't know this, but I think any further announcement of the slate — the rest of this year is going to be about the next Avengers movie and the tee up to that stuff. And then I think we are all hopeful. Just the same as last time. We didn't have any idea there would be a second Ant-Man until maybe month or so after the first one came out. This was a giant question mark. With the first one, there was obviously behind the scenes drama that preceded me, but also, it's Ant-Man. There was a question of, are people going to go see this movie? It was not a fait accompli. It could have gone either way. I think we are all interested in doing one. There is story to tell there. Definitely. There is story we've talked about potentially. I'm very, very hopeful."

I absolutely loved Ant-Man and The Wasp and there's no doubt that audiences are going to dig it. I hope that we do get an Ant-Man 3, but who knows what's going to happen in Avengers 4! That movie is going to set the stage for whatever comes next.