We now know that Edgar Wright’s “Ant-Man” will be one of the next Marvel films to drop. In fact, we even know generally when it will arrive: 2014. On top of that, it’s long been known that nerd god Edgar Wright is going to be directing it, which is quite fantastic indeed. So the question is, who will actually be Ant-Man? And which Ant-Man will it be? On this week’s Casting Couch, we tackle just that.
We already know this, and even if we could, we wouldn’t change it. Edgar Wright is a gem of a director, with a great visual voice and a ton of personality that you would need to pull off a concept like this one. Marvel hit the nail on the head with this one from day one.
Henry Pym or Eric O’Grady? Who will it be? As much as I want it to be O’Grady, and even Wright probably wants it to be too given the fit there, it’s going to be Henry Pym. He’s an Avenger – a founding one at that – and his spiderwebs push in so many different directions that he’s necessary to get to a lot of great stories for the movies. Not only that, but O’Grady can hardly exist without Pym, so Pym first, O’Grady later (maybe).
For Pym, we ultimately wanted to go with someone a little less known but someone who is a rising star assuredly: James Badge Dale. Between his work on HBO’s The Pacific, AMC’s Rubicon, and last year’s critical darling Shame, he’s earned himself a ton of praise, but nothing to officially break him out yet. With this role, given the humanity, intelligence and violence he’s capable of emanating, we think Dale would crush this and make his Ant-Man stand out against the other Marvel heroes.
There are a lot of reasons why Baccarin is perfect. Let’s start with the fact she’s a stellar actress, as she proved most recently on Showtime’s renowned Homeland. Then, you have the fact she’s a visual match for The Wasp and gorgeous to boot. We think this would be one hell of a leap for her, but one she would thrive in.
This was a tough one. Do you go with someone very well known to be the voice of Ultron? Do you go with someone who feels like a match for the voice and power of the character? How about the best blend of both? Sure, Dalton hasn’t been as prominent as he was once as a James Bond, but the man has an incredible voice, and one that could blow people away as the villainous Ultron. We love the idea, and absolutely think he should take the spot, even if we did get close to deciding on Bill Nighy.
Pym’s once assistant and eventual ally, Foster perhaps is most well known for his death to modern audiences but is a damn fine character in his own right. With Ejiofor as the character, we have someone who can bounce ideas and charisma off Dale, with the two of them crackling whenever working together. Not only that, but he gets bonus points for having previously worked (well) with Baccarin in Serenity.
