SAN DIEGO – You thought you were disappointed about director Edgar Wright's departure from “Ant-Man”? Try being Paul Rudd.
“Well, it's been…it was pretty bumpy for sure,” said the actor of Wright's exit while promoting the film (in which he stars as second Ant-Man Scott Lang) at San Diego Comic-Con. “I'm really sad about it. Edgar's brilliant, and Edgar brought me on. Edgar's my friend. I mean, I still talk to Edgar just about every day, almost.”
So, after losing a director and several castmates (including Patrick Wilson, who reportedly dropped out due to a scheduling conflict), what's there to feel good about?
“[The film has] opened up and grown in such a new and exciting way,” said Rudd of the new creative direction. “And I also know [new director] Peyton [Reed], and Peyton is a really smart, really passionate visionary when it comes to this kind of stuff. He's a comic book fan, he knows the world, this was his 20th Comic-Con. So while it wasn't terra firma there for awhile, my enthusiasm and excitement and passion is certainly there for where we're at now, and what Peyton's gonna do.”
For more from Rudd, including a discussion of the film's tone and what to expect from Lang's relationship with Michael Douglas's Hank Pym, click on the video above for the full interview.
“Ant-Man” is slated for release on July 17, 2015.