Why Wright Left Ant-Man and 5 Directors I’d Like to See Replace Him

By Danny F. Santos (doddleNEWS)

Edgar Wright leaving Ant-Man was a shocker for Marvel fans. He had championed Ant-Man for eight years at Marvel Studios, cast great actors and went into preproduction. Marvel Chief Kevin Feige has always been supportive of the project and then Wright was gone in an instant.

What happened? THR spoke with sources that seems to track with a rumor Latino Review wrote about recently.

If you remember about a month ago, Wright and co-screenwriter Joe Cornish had to go back and make some changes to the script because of some notes that Marvel gave them. The crux of these changes dealt with the moral core of the film and aspects to tie the film into the current phase: three portion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Wright and Cornish were willing to make these changes, and wrote two more passes of the screenplay while trying to keep the project as the film they envisioned.

Marvel was still unhappy with the script and hired two low-credit writers to do another pass, and when Wright was given the new script, it was no longer the movie he wanted to direct, so he walked away. James Gunn already used a relationship analogy to describe the situation, but I’d like to add to that. Wright and Marvel went together well when Marvel was just starting out, but now have drifted apart and wanted something different out of the relationship.

Now the looming question is whether Ant-Man can make it’s July 2015 release date. Marvel needs to start shooting as soon as possible but they have to find someone who can pull the movie off as quickly as possible. Here’s my list of five directors who could pick up where Wright left off.

Joe Cornish

When the story broke, this was my editor’s first reaction as to who might replace Edgar Wright. It’s a great choice, as his directorial film debut Attack the Block was fantastic, and he would know more about the production than any other director brought on board. However, that would also mean him taking the chair after his longtime collaborator left to work on a script Marvel took from him and rewrote.

Gore Verbinski

The Lone Ranger was a complete disaster for Disney, so I can see them being hesitant with Verbinski. The thing is that he’s a great director and the original Pirates of the Caribbean proves he can do action-comedy. He’s not a hot commodity but this could be a great comeback film for him.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

These guys are the the people responsible for The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Studios are clawing all over each other just to get them onboard. With two directors involved Marvel you get to split Wright’s duties and get the film back on track.

Clark Gregg

Gregg loves the Marvel universe and has loved playing a part of it. To top it off, he’s also a great director and shares Marvel’s vision so getting him involved even more within Marvel would be easy. The only problem would be splitting time between shooting Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and directorial work may be a bit much.

Gareth Evans

My favorite action movies of the past few years have been The Raid films out of Indonesia, and Evans has floored me with how much he can do with so little. The problem with following in Edgar Wright’s footsteps is the kinetic intensity in a Wright film that few directors can compete with. Evans is one of the few directors that can match Wright on that.

Who would you like to see replace Edgar Wright? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Why Wright Left Ant-Man and 5 Directors I’d Like to See Replace Him appeared first on Doddle.