MICHAEL DOUGLAS

What made you come back?

It’s a nice part of my legacy to have a show like this that I can come in and out of.  Most of my career, I’m always carrying the movie. I’m in every single scene. Now I can leave that up to Paul (Rudd, who plays Ant-Man) and Evangeline. 

How did the news of Michelle Pfeiffer playing your wife hit you?

It was just fabulous. In the first one, Ant-Man, there is a flashback with me that depicts me as 30 years younger. It is really cool. It would be great in this to have the chance to act with Michelle Pfeiffer as we looked 30 years ago. Who wouldn’t like that?!

What is enjoyable about revisiting a character?

The best thing about doing a sequel is the opportunity to work with the people you worked with before, so there’s a feeling of familiarity. You don’t have to go in like strangers and feel your way out. There’s also a comfort factor with the director, Peyton Reed. Hank Pym is the guy who keeps this thing grounded; he keeps a degree of credibility and reality. I am now comfortable in that role, where I may not have been as comfortable early on. It’s what my role is and I’m enjoying it. 

What about Hank’s lab?

Hank Pym’s lab in San Francisco looks like a five or six-storey factory building, kind of nondescript. But inside, he’s doing tremendous research, basically exploring the possibility of entering the quantum realm, which is where he lost his wife Janet (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) 30 years ago. He still has the ability to make things small, even shrinking down a block-long, six-storey building.

We have one of the greatest sets that I’ve ever seen. It’s from a production designer named Shepherd Frankel. It’s just a stunning, stunning set. We will make you believe that I can reduce it to the size of a travel suitcase and take it wherever I want. 

What do you think about Paul Rudd playing Scott Lang?

Paul has a wonderful Everyman quality. He’s a lovely, warm, generous guy. And it comes across in his performances. But he’s got this great quirkiness too, this little twinkle, this sparkle. He also is a very smart guy. I thought he did brilliantly in the first one as Ant-Man and in this one as well. He’s a writer also as well as being a wonderful actor. He comes up with some clever lines and displays an inherent honesty about his work and his performances that are just captivating.

I love our on-screen relationship because there’s a romantic involvement teasing with Scott and Hope (Hank Pym’s daughter, played by Evangeline Lilly). So Hank’s looking at Paul as any possible future father-in-law would look at his son. And let’s just say he doesn’t cherish all of Scott’s qualities and doesn’t necessarily think he’s the best choice for Hope. So it allows me to be very judgemental with him and very critical, so we have a lot of fun with that.

What’s your character’s relationship with Hope and how was it working with Evangeline?

Based on the first picture, Hank had lost his wife, Janet, who was Hope’s mother. Hank is guilt-ridden to a good extent about that loss. So at the end of the first one, Hank felt that Hope was old enough to show her Janet’s Wasp outfit, as she was the original Wasp. So that was an introduction to Hope beginning her career of Hank being her mentor in the Ant-Man adventures. They have mutual respect for each other now.

But like any young filly, Hope’s always feeling like Hank is holding her back to some degree. Hank has underestimated her intelligence, and her wile and her guile, and her ability to get things done. Of course, also in this search for her mom is a personal link between the two of them of how important that Janet was to both of them.

It’s a real joy to watch Evangeline come into her own in a superhero film in which she plays a title character. I get a kick out of watching her joy and her excitement, and her incredible hard work and overall ability. She’s a wonderful actress and has great ability at handling stunts. 

Was there anything special that you did to connect?

I have produced a lot of movies, and I have acted in a lot of movies that I have produced, but when you reach number one or number two on the call sheet and you’re carrying a movie, you have a responsibility to make it as comfortable as possible for everybody else. I want everybody, whether I’m producing or not, to be as good as they can be. So I go out of my way to try to make people feel comfortable and give them the confidence to step forward.

I was fortunate enough for my first experience on a television series, Streets of San Francisco, to have Karl Malden advise me. When I was the second lead in soft focus about two steps back behind him, he said come on up here and take the stage. So when we’re feeling each other out on the first one and we know we might have a long run together for pictures to come, I encourage people to step forward and take the stage. It’s their moment.

MICHELLE PFEIFFER

What was your initial exposure to Marvel?

My first exposure would have been Spider-Man and then Iron Man, both of which I really loved. I guess I discovered Marvel through my children. Then I saw Ant-Man, and I really loved it. At first I thought Ant-Man?! I was not familiar with the superhero Ant-Man. By the sound of it, I was a little skeptical, but I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve always been such a Paul Rudd fan, and the movie was really smart and really funny and also grounded in reality in way that it had this very unusual tone to it that I think set it apart from a lot of the other superhero movies that I had seen.

Tell us  about your character...

I wasn’t familiar with Janet van Dyne before this, and I loved that she’s such a seminal character in the Marvel comic book world and that she was one of the founding members of the Avengers, and a really important superhero. I also loved that at this phase in my life I’m playing a superhero! I think it’s incredible, and I think the message that it sends to women of all ages and all demographics is that we are still kicking ass and that we’re strong. And that we’re independent and we’re fierce, and capable and vital parts of society. I loved sending that message out in the universe.

Janet van Dyne, many years ago, got stuck in the quantum realm. Hope and Hank set out to find her because they’ve never given up hope that she’s still alive. And so throughout the film, it’s really their journey and their struggle to find a way to bring her back.

What does Paul Rudd bring to Ant-Man?

They broke the mould after they made Paul Rudd. He is unique. He has a sense of humour that’s unto his own. He has this incredibly dry, sweet, kind of wicked sense of humour behind this very boyish face.

What conversations did you have with director Peyton Reed about your character?

We had a lot of conversations early on. He told me that Janet was a warrior and that she is a very important and brilliant scientist, and that she hasn’t been just kind of wasting away in the quantum realm and that she’s been working on important things. I think she is a lot fiercer than the original concept of this character, which was exciting to me.

Peyton has this exceptional quality of boyishness and a sort of childlike enthusiasm along with seriousness and attention to detail. Not all directors really have that. As an actor, I live in fear that I’m going to be missing something but with him in charge he’s not going to let you miss anything. But it’s really a fun set. I love being a part of the Marvel family. I love making this film, working with these actors, playing this part. I feel very lucky, honestly.