Ant-Man and The Wasp director Peyton Reed has revealed that the utterly glorious Michelle Pfeiffer very nearly backed out of the Marvel movie.
Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Reed said that Pfeiffer needed some convincing to take on the role of Janet van Dyne, aka the original Wasp, and mother of Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly).
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"I had no idea if she would even be remotely interested in doing this kind of a movie again or how she'd feel about it," he explained.
Related: Ant-Man and the Wasp – Everything you need to know
"So, we met. She came over and sat in one of the conference rooms, just the two of us at Marvel, and kind of talked through who Janet van Dyne was in the comics and who she might be in this movie."
Reed continued: "She was really funny, because one of the first things she said to me, she was like, 'You know. I'm going to tell you up front. My process on every single movie I have ever done in my career, I've tried to back out of the movie at the last minute. That's just my MO.'"
Adding that he asked Pfeiffer if she wanted him "to woo her more", Reed said: "She's like, 'No, legitimately – yes, I want you to woo me more, but legitimately it's that kind of thing [that I try to back out of roles].'"
After becoming "convinced" that the film would "be a wreck" without Pfeiffer, Reed gave her some comics and told her to "do all the research you want" – but explained that it'd only get her so far.
"A lot of the stuff in the comics is really two-dimensional, if not one-dimensional, and we want to do something different," he told THR.
"We talked about what it could be, and I wanted her input throughout in terms of the character, without giving too much away. But for me it was a thrill to be working with her because she is incredible."
Ant-Man and The Wasp is out now in the UK and US. Book tickets here.
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