Anchorman to Ant-Man: Paul Rudd can’t stop buzzing about life as the tiniest Avenger
PAUL Rudd’s co-star Michael Douglas called Jack “The Joker” Nicholson for superhero advice before filming Ant-Man. Who did Rudd call for help?
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Paul Rudd — Phoebe’s boyfriend from Friends, Brian Fantana with the Sex Panther cologne in Anchorman, Alicia Silverstone’s perfect match in Clueless — still can’t wrap his head around the fact that he’s a Marvel superhero.
He’s shot his origins film Ant-Man and has already joined the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe by filming Ant-Man’s scenes in next year’s Captain America: Civil War.
Still, it’s not sinking in.
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“I had several moments working on Civil War where I’d turn into a 10-year-old: ‘That’s the Winter Solider arm!’ ‘There’s Captain America — holy s---! And I’m supposed to go talk to him right now and call him Captain!’ Having a conversation with Robert Downey Jr: ‘Holy s---, what? This is crazy!’
“That hasn’t really gone away.”
Maybe that’s because Rudd, 46, didn’t see this particular career tangent coming, even when his mate, English writer-director Edgar Wright, was showing him test footage of the Ant-Man movie he was going to (but ultimately didn’t) make.
“I knew Edgar had been working on it because I’m friends with Edgar. But when we talked about it, it was never that I was being considered for it or anything ... I certainly didn’t see it coming.”
When it did come, Rudd got “super excited”. Then Wright, the Shaun Of the Dead and Hot Fuzz creator who had been working up Ant-Man since 2006, parted ways with Marvel over “differences in their vision of the film”.
Asked if, as a loyal friend, he seriously considered jumping ship after Wright, Rudd replies with a wary laugh: “Well, there are certain things I can’t quite get into ... That was maybe not an option.”
Still, he admits, he was “really upset”.
“I was thrilled at the idea of working on an Edgar Wright movie and working with my friend ... it was tough. That said, we had to put some pieces back in place and sometimes in a chaotic or tricky situation you’re forced to think in different ways and do things that were never part of the original plan. So it’s funny how things have a way of working out.”
There were two main pieces that helped Ant-Man work out: the hiring of a new director, Peyton Reed (“This is now such a Peyton Reed movie and I loved working with Peyton,” Rudd says) and Rudd sitting down with Anchorman director Adam McKay to do a rewrite. (Rudd is quick to add that “the bones” of Wright and Joe Cornish’s script remain.)
For the record, everyone says Rudd and McKay added more emotional stuff to the story of cat burglar Scott Lang — a guy just out of jail and desperate to reconnect with his daughter. Which, knowing Rudd and McKay and their Sex Panther jokes, seems rather odd.
“Yeah, you would think it would just be jokes and it isn’t that really at all,” shrugs Rudd. “Although we did certainly write some very funny stuff ...”
A lot of that funny stuff is gifted to Lang’s criminal crew, a ragtag bunch played by rapper T.I., David Dastmalchian and Michael Peña, who give Ant-Man a similar rollicking tone to Guardians Of the Galaxy. Peña in particular is hilarious. Who knew he had it in him? “I did,” says Rudd. “I knew he had it in him.”
So, who is Ant-Man? In the Marvel comics, he was a founding member of The Avengers — with his partner, Wasp, the character was on the cover of Avengers #1 with Hulk, Iron Man and Thor.
The story goes that scientist Hank Pym created Pym Particles, which allowed him to shrink down to insect size, while packing an outsized punch. With a suit that allowed him to withstand shrinking and the ability to command an army of ants, he could be the perfect soldier: one the enemy would never see coming.
When the movie picks up, Hank (played by Michael Douglas) has grown too old for the suit and has fallen out with S.H.I.E.L.D. as well as the laboratory he founded.
When the creation of similar technology to his particles puts the world in danger, he stealthily recruits Lang to take over the Ant-Man suit in order to pull off a heist and save the day.
Douglas, who in his 70 years had never done a big effects movie, called his old mate Jack Nicholson (The Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman) to allay any fears.
“When you’re Michael Douglas,” says Rudd, “you can do that!”
What about Rudd?
“The person that I called was Chris Pratt,” he says.
Pratt, to most just the funny flabby guy from Parks and Recreation before Guardians Of the Galaxy turned out to be a smash, was deemed to be taking just a big a risk as Rudd by spearheading a largely unknown Marvel entity.
“I asked him questions about: Who was his trainer? Did Marvel provide it or did you have to find a guy on your own? What were you eating? What was your experience working with Marvel?
“And he would check in sometimes: ‘How’s it going?’ That was kinda nice to have him as a resource.”
Rudd’s physical transformation may not be as obvious as Pratt’s, but it’s there. Exiting an Ant-Man screening at Marvel HQ, Hit overheard two ladies gushing: “We’ve never seen this Paul Rudd before ...”
“Oh that’s nice,” says the man himself as Hit relays the story.
They were saying it very lustily.
“Oh ... ahh, well, that’s good,” he laughs. “I guess.”
Does Rudd’s wife Julie like him in superhero shape?
“You’d have to ask her,” he responds with a bashful grin, “but yeah, she was noticing that my clothes weren’t fitting in the same way.”
(Rudd’s top tip for getting in superhero shape: “You have to put down the cupcakes!”)
The Rudd family, completed by son Jack and daughter Darby, live in New York — not far from where the actor was born to English parents in New Jersey. Rudd spends his spare time playing soccer with his sports-mad son, poker with his mates, swimming and, he says, “I have a love of karaoke to rival a Korean businessman”.
He was raised all over the US, a fact that may have contributed a lot to his likability. As Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige puts it: “Paul can do almost anything and you’re still charmed by him.”
“I spent a great deal of my childhood moving to different places, always with new people, having European parents, feeling like an outsider. I probably learnt early on that if you could make somebody laugh, you wouldn’t get beat up or you could make friends and it would make life a little easier,” Rudd explains.
“I also spent a good chunk of the formative years of my life in Kansas City which is in the middle of the country. I would probably be different if I grew up in a bigger city. Midwesterners don’t let you get too full of yourself and it’s a very friendly vibe, people are nice to each other.”
So basically, Rudd’s like an Australian?
“I like to think so,” he says. “I love that place!”
Rudd may not have seen Ant-Man coming, but Judd Apatow — who directed Rudd in The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up — is not at all surprised by his friend’s evolution from funny dude to superhero.
“He’s a great actor, very witty, and now that he has gotten himself into superhero shape, he’s unstoppable,” Apatow says.
“We love people like that, who are so gifted, but have wonderful personalities. That’s why we love Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man — everybody said, ‘Oh, finally, one of these superhero guys is really enjoyable to watch and has a hilariously wicked personality’. I’m sure that’s what Paul has done, too.”
Funnily enough, the last major leading role we saw Rudd play prior to Ant-Man was in Apatow’s marriage comedy This Is 40.
It’s supposed to be all downhill after 40, right?
“There is life after ...” Rudd laughs. “Yeah, this is true. It’s been a fun ride. I mean, nobody’s even seen Ant-Man yet, but the experience — for all of the speed bumps — has been an adventure and a thrilling one at that. I’ve loved it. I mean, I’ve really loved it.
“I loved having the focus of going through all the physical stuff before we started shooting. I loved getting in a room with McKay and coming up with new things. I’ve loved getting to meet the other Avengers. I’ve loved spending time at Marvel and seeing Thor’s hammer sitting in the office ... I’ve loved all of it.”
ANT-MAN OPENS ON JULY 16
Originally published as Anchorman to Ant-Man: Paul Rudd can’t stop buzzing about life as the tiniest Avenger
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