Joss Whedon, James Gunn React to Edgar Wright's Departure from Ant-Man
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- May 28, 2014
By Danny F. Santos (doddleNEWS)
Last week we were hit with news from the Marvel camp that came so out of left field, no one was prepared for it. Edgar Wright who had been spearheading the Ant-Man project for the last eight years left the project just months before shooting is set to commence.
I had a few words to say about the departure and how it isn't the first time a director has left a Marvel project due to creative differences. Marvel is still prepping the film and has said a new director will be announced soon, but personally, I was looking forward to seeing what Wright's vision was going to be. He had been attached since 2006, when Jon Favreau was hired to helm the first Iron Man. In fact, Wright was developing an Ant-Man film before that, for another studio until Marvel got the rights back.
Avengers: Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon's response was very, well, Whedonesque. He tweeted a selfie with no description, just him holding up a Cornetto ice cream cone as if toasting Edgar Wright. The cone is a reference to Wright's Cornetto trilogy of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End which he collaborated with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
Joss Whedon expresses how he feels about Edgar Wright leaving
Joss Whedon (@josswhedon) May 24, 2014
James Gunn, director of Guardians of the Galaxy, meanwhile took to Facebook comparing Marvel and Wright's situation to a relationship. Just because you know two good people doesn't mean they'll make a good match for each other. Here's what he said:
Sometimes you have friends in a relationship. You love each of them dearly as individuals and think they're amazing people. When they talk to you about their troubles, you do everything you can to support them, to keep them together, because if you love them both so much doesn't it make sense they should love each other? But little by little you realize, at heart, they aren't meant to be together -- not because there's anything wrong with either of them, but they just don't have personalities that mesh in a comfortable way. They don't make each other happy. Although it's sad to see them split, when they do, you're surprisingly relieved, and excited to see where their lives take them next.
It's easy to try to make one party "right" and another party "wrong" when a breakup happens, but it often isn't that simple. Or perhaps it's even more simple than that -- not everyone belongs in a relationship together. It doesn't mean they're not wonderful people.
And that's true of both Edgar Wright and Marvel. One of them isn't a person, but I think you get what I mean.
To be honest, Gunn has a point. I'll admit my knee-jerk reaction is that Marvel is wrong for letting Wright go and not letting him do it his own way — but I'm not involved. I don't know the details or the full picture. I do see Marvel sacrificing interesting storytelling to keep all the films in-line with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Having said that, Marvel has created a wonderful world for all the characters to live in and in order to keep the consistency some compromises need to be made.
It's not directors toeing a line, Marvel is just looking for directors who are all in agreement with what the tone and direction of the entire world are.
But I still would have loved to see what Wright would have come out with.
What’s Edgar Wright’s next move? Deadline is reporting that Wright is rumored to be moving onto another long-in-development project based on a 70′s cult TV show called The Night Stalker. Based around newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak, it followed him as he investigated supernatural elements from vampires to werewolves (and was a big inspiration for Chris Carter’s seminal TV series The X-Files). Johnny Depp has been attached to the project and appears to still be ready to go on it.
Guardians of the Galaxy premieres August 1, 2014, while The Avengers: Age of Ultron hits theaters May 1, 2015. Ant-Man kicks off Phase: Three of the MCU July 17, 2015.
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