Edgar Wright Has Not Seen Ant-Man And Has A Good Reason For Never Seeing It

A film based on the Marvel superhero Ant-Man had been waffling around Hollywood since the 1980s, but it was when Edgar Wright and his writing partner Joe Cornish brought their take to President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, that the tiny, mighty hero finally found a future. Wright developed the project for eight years, with three different drafts of the film completed by 2011 and test footage shot in 2012. Wright was even responsible for bringing on Paul Rudd as the titular Ant-Man in 2013. Eventually, Wright left the project due to creative differences with Marvel. Director Peyton Reed was brought in to direct the film, with Paul Rudd and his frequent friend/collaborator Adam McKay delivering a new draft of the script.

"Ant-Man" was released in 2015, with the sequel "Ant-Man and The Wasp" coming out three years later, and the third film, "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" due out in 2023. Despite the years gone by, Wright still hasn't seen the "Ant-Man" movie he walked away from, and with good reason. During an "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) on Reddit as part of a promotional event for his latest film, "Last Night in Soho," user u/Alienboy13 asked, "​​Have you gotten a chance to watch 'Ant-Man?' If so, what are your thoughts on it, and what was your original idea for it?"

Edgar Wright replied respectfully and simply, saying: "I decided not to watch it so I would never have to tell people what I thought of it."

Setting Appropriate Boundaries

This isn't the first time Wright has made it public that he's not planning on ever seeing "Ant-Man." In an interview with Uproxx during his press tour for "Baby Driver," he was quoted as saying the following:

I haven't seen it and I haven't even seen the trailer. It would kind of like be asking me, 'Do you want to watch your ex-girlfriend have sex?' Like, 'No, I'm good.' The closest I came to it was that somebody sitting near me on a flight was watching it. And when I saw that the person sitting next to me was going to watch the movie, I thought, hmm, maybe I'm going to do some work on my laptop. I don't think they knew who I was. They were just watching it. That was the closest I came to seeing it.

During Wright's AMA, he also referenced the airplane trip. While Wright and Cornish were still given writing credits on the project, it was a huge bummer when Wright left as director. He has historically handled the situation maturely, telling Variety "I wanted to make a Marvel movie but I don't think they really wanted to make an Edgar Wright movie." Good for Wright for publicly declaring his decision to not watch "Ant-Man" so he doesn't have to have an opinion on it, especially considering he's made three movies since the "Ant-Man" exit and yet he's still continually getting asked about it when he's just trying to promote his new projects. We stan a king who sets healthy boundaries.