Welcome to the rumor mill at its most… rumor-y. The past 24 hours have been a prime example of everyone trying to get to the story first before there’s one actually there. Yesterday, we learned that Marvel had their eyes on Adam McKay, Rawson Thurber and Ruben Fleischer to replace Edgar Wright on “Ant-Man,” with plans to meet with those directors, presumably with other unnamed filmmakers in the mix. Then, before the day was out, it was reported that McKay had jumped the queue, was in talks to land the gig. Well, the weekend is here and the director’s chair for “Ant-Man” is still vacant.
The Wrap now reports that the “Anchorman” director has withdrawn from talks for the movie. So, Marvel will return to the drawing board, with plans to meet directors next week including both Thurber (reportedly the frontrunner to direct) and Fleischer to take on “Ant-Man.” It’s not clear why McKay ultimately bailed, but it always seemed a bit strange that that the successful comic filmmaker would take over what has effectively been someone’s else project for years, particularly when he has a number producing and directing vehicles in development. And it’s also a job that likely wouldn’t give McKay much room to put his own imprint on the material, with Marvel effectively looking for someone to take what’s on the page, make it happen, and not much more.
So, will it be Thurber or Fleischer or someone else entirely? Who do you want to get the gig? Let us know below. “Ant-Man” is still supposed to open on July 17, 2015. Update: McKay has tweeted about his reasons for exiting the project.
And yes, met w/Marvel. Kirby & Lee r my Lennon Mccartney so it was awesome. But have other projects I’m committed to. Not sure it can work.
— Adam McKay (@GhostPanther) May 31, 2014
