As of today, director Peyton Reed, who has the unenviable job of filling Edgar Wright's shoes directing Marvel's "Ant-Man," has begun production on the film at last. With a July 17, 2015 release date, the movie has less than a year to film, finish special effects and put together a final edit. That's a super tight deadline for an effects-heavy film.
Back in July 2014, not long after Wright announced his departure, three of the film's cast members filling smaller roles were forced to leave as well. Patrick Wilson, Matt Gerard and Kevin Weisman couldn't maintain their commitments to the film after all the production delays.
Today it seems that Reed has filled those holes in the cast, along with a few other yet-to-be-disclosed roles. Bobby Cannavale (best known as Gyp Rosetti on "Boardwalk Empire"), Judy Greer ("Archer"), John Slattery ("Mad Men"), the rapper known as T.I., child actress Abby Ryder Fortson, Wood Harris (Avon Barksdale on "The Wire") and Gregg Turkington have joined the production. They join Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly and Corey Stoll who are now in San Francisco filming.
Rudd stars as Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, a con-artist-turned-superhero, thanks to a special suit that allows him to shrink down to microscopic size while his strength proportionately grows. Michael Douglas is Lang's mentor and inventor of the Ant-Man technology, Hank Pym. Evangeline Lilly is Pym's daughter (and likely Lang's love interest), Hope Pym. Corey Stoll will portray Darren Cross, aka Yellowjacket, the film's antagonist.
The "Ant-Man" screenplay was written by Adam McKay, Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari. Marvel's big tentpole "Avengers: Age of Ultron" opens in theaters May 1, 2015; "Ant-Man" follows almost three months later.
