Ant-Man: Cast In Fayetteville; Jay Roach For Edgar Wright After Marvel Breakup?

Well, so much for all of the MARVEL Ant-Man Comic Con 2012 good will that was evident in this video, where Marvel’s Kevin Feigh came out to get fans fired up about the future, and alongside Edgar Wright:

(Man, Edgar Wright must be in one hell of a funk.)

The Ant-Man movie controversy news reveals an interesting tid-bit: the crew for the first movie to mark MARVEL: Phase II, is already in and around Fayetteville, Georgia. So, if you’re here, like this blogger is, keep your eyes peeled for men and women at restaurants around town or in Atlanta, and wearing t-shirts from Iron Man or some other MARVEL movie that was made.

The trouble is, they’re all kind of stuck down here, waiting for Marvel Entertainment to officially name the director who will replace the seemingly irreplacable Mr. Wright, who’s known for the popular three-headed hydra of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End – or what’s called “The Cornetto Trilogy.”

The rumor that’s around town here is Jay Roach will replace Edgar Wright. I’ll deal with the “who” later in this post.

Oh, and why are they here in Fayetteville, GA? Well, because IMDB reports the soundstage for the film as at this address: Pinewood Atlanta Studios, 461 Sandy Creek Road, Fayetteville, Georgia, USA. Here:

Now, everyone was waiting for Mr. Wright, but now, no.

(And this note from IMDB: “Ant-Man is the first production to film in the sound stages at the new Pinewood Atlanta Studios. Portions of the pilot episode of the the TV show Resurrection, including all scenes taking place in China were filmed on Pinewood’s back lot and were the first production to officially occur on the grounds while Pinewood was under construction.”)

And, from what the ever reliable El Mayimbe is reporting over at Latino-Review, Edgar Wright’s departure had nothing to do with production issues, but had to do with Marvel taking the scrip that Joe Cornish and Edgar Wright finished over a year ago, giving it to some “low level” script writers on its staff, and giving them free reign to completely destroy Cornish and Wright’s vision for Ant-Man.

So, Edgar met with Marvel brass to formally announce his exit last Friday, the word went out, and he bounced. Since the cast and crew were already ‘in place’ in more ways than one, they were stuck.

And that includes Michael Douglas, Paul Rudd, and Evangeline Lilly.

It’s too bad, because from the looks of this effects test clip, Wright was about to produces a cool masterpiece of a film:

What this means is more money spent by Marvel to keep all fed and happy until a director’s located and secured – as to how ‘soon’ that will be is anyone’s guess. But, and again, a rumor out is that Marvel locked up Jay Roach to replace Edgar Wright.

Now, let’s deal with the “Who’ is Jay Roach?” question.

He is a seasoned director best known for Meet The Fockers and who just recently signed up to direct The Trade with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. My gut tells me to stick with this rumor for a ton of reasons having to do with instinct.

Stay tuned for more.