Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania star Michelle Pfeiffer has discussed her experience working on Marvel Studios films. Pfeiffer's MCU debut was in the first Ant-Man sequel, and for many, it was a nice welcome surprise to the highly-beloved film.
Ant-Man is a member of the superhero team the Avengers and is a hero who went through a path of redemption, which is traditional for a lot of comic book characters. Ant-Man does a good job at balancing the humor, not to mention the very detailed and visually stunning action set pieces that keep fans on the edge of their seats.
Pfeiffer has many iconic roles in several projects, but the one film that many comic book fans often associate with the actress is Batman Returns due to her role as Catwoman. She is one of many talents who have been a part of both Marvel and DC comic book projects. During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show, the actress spoke about the filming process for the very popular Ant-Man films. "[Marvel Studios is] very mysterious, and they’re very secretive, of course, with their storylines. It’s a little hard because I met with [director] 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."
Pfeiffer is speaking about the process of portraying the character of Janet van Dyne, who in the comic books is the mother of Hope Pym ( or in this film, Hope Van Dyne). Being the mother of a pivotal main character is a big role on its own, so it makes sense that there's some sort of difficulty with performing when the talent has to work with a constantly-changing script. "It wouldn’t have mattered because it all changes anyway," Pfeiffer continued. "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."
This different method of filming and writing is typically how Marvel Studios is able to keep a lot of secrets. Many of the films are guarded until the final theatrical release to the public. In this world of internet leaks, many things get out before it's time for it to officially be announced. A lot of DC Comics' storylines get leaked, which may point to why they stick to the script while Marvel Studios keeps throwing curveballs. It's unclear how this all works exactly and to what degree Marvel Studios plans their stories, but it's clear that they should stick to this plan of attack.
Moving forward, it would be cool to see more stories and other filmmakers approach this method. The Mandalorian managed to hide one big character cameo until the episode aired live on Disney Plus. There are extra methods in place for things like this, where a lot of information is on a need-to-know basis. Only those who need to be aware should be aware, and this unfortunately may have to be what filmmaking will need to do in order to keep the surprises.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is slated for a theatrical release on July 28, 2023.
Source: The Tonight Show