After losing Edgar Wright last month, Marvel’s Ant-Man has a new director in Peyton Reed. Adam McKay, who had been in talks to replace Wright, will work on the screenplay. McKay previously wrote Anchorman which featured Paul Rudd as Brian Fantana, a member of Ron Burgundy’s news team. Marvel still hopes to have the film out in July of 2015, which would suggest they are still on schedule to begin production this summer.
In addition to announcing a director, Marvel also hinted at the film’s plot. Rudd will star as con-man Scott Lang, protege of Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas). Lang uses the Ant-Man suit to shrink in size in order to dramatically increase his physical strength. In the movie he will need to pull of the biggest heist of his life in order to keep the technology out of the wrong hands. Evangeline Lily, Michael Pena, Corey Stoll, and Patrick Wilson will also appear.
The release of a plot tease suggests that Marvel finally has a script that it likes and the new creative team is on board. Supposedly mandated revisions to the screenplay drove away Wright. Marvel did not mention if the film’s other original writer, Joe Cornish, is still involved. This incident will likely prove to be a minor concern for Marvel if/when Guardians of the Galaxy and next year’s Avengers: Age of Ultron open big. Hopefully, for the film’s sake, by then there will be no lingering ill will from fans towards Ant-Man.