Michelle Pfeiffer Couldn't Read The Ant-Man And The Wasp Script Before Joining The Film
Prolific actor Michelle Pfeiffer, who plays Janet van Dyne in "Ant-Man and the Wasp," recently opened up about her struggles with constant script rewrites while working on a Marvel project, a factor that hindered her from reading the film's script before joining. In an interview with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, Pfeiffer was asked about her involvement in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," and the process of her signing up for the films the first time, leading her to comment about the secrecy and constant script changes surrounding the films (via The Hollywood Reporter).
'You don't really know what you're getting into'
Pfeiffer's character appeared briefly during flashback scenes in the first "Ant-Man" installment, played by Hayley Lovitt. Operating under the codename Wasp in S.H.I.E.L.D., Janet sacrificed herself to save the lives of millions, becoming lost in the Quantum Realm in the process — but miraculously surviving. Interestingly, her prolonged time in the Quantum Realm rendered her with superhuman powers.
Elaborating on the heavy secrecy that surrounds most Marvel scripts, Pfeiffer spoke about how under-the-wraps most things are about the "Ant-Man" films, and how nothing is set in stone script-wise, as things keep changing last-minute, repeatedly:
"They're [Marvel] very mysterious, and they're very secretive, of course, with their storylines. It's a little hard because I met with Peyton [Reed], and I knew a little bit about the character, but there was no script. You have to commit without actually having read anything.
It wouldn't have mattered because it [the script] changes anyway. You don't really know what you're getting into, and then you get a script right before you start shooting, and then it changes every day. And then you shoot the movie, and you wrap, and then it changes again."
Pfeiffer is set to return in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," alongside the principal cast of the previous films, including Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Ant-Man), Evangeline Lilly (Hope van Dyne/The Wasp), and Michael Douglas (Hank Pym).
While plot details for the film, along with Janet's exact role in terms of the narrative are not exactly crystal clear, the gang will be going against the all-knowing, time-traveling Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), who made his first appearance in "Loki," where things ended with the branching of timelines and the opening of the multiverse.
"Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" is scheduled to be released in theaters on July 28, 2023.