Marvel's Ant-Man Hank Pym (Michael Douglas)

Michael Douglas is Excited About Special Effects in Marvel’s Ant-Man

Disney disclosure


Did you know that Michael Douglas began his acting career back in 1966? And in the 56 acting credits over those years, he has never once done a special effects movie. The technology in Marvel’s Ant-Man was new to him and he was a bit excited about it. I know because I asked him recently in an interview for the upcoming film.

Marvel's Ant-Man  Hank Pym (Michael Douglas)
Photo Credit: Zade Rosenthal © Marvel 2014

Michael Douglas

Mr. Douglas mentioned that out of all his 50+ movies, only one has ever even used a green screen. Everything he has done in his career have been contemporary story lines with no need for special technology. Therefore, he was naturally fascinated by that fact and spent time between shots learning more about it. 4 units all worked together using story boards to create the scenes and moved “a lot faster” according to Douglas. In his words, he said it was “inspirational.” I can see how!

Marvel's Ant-Man Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas
Photo Credit: Zade Rosenthal ©Marvel 2014

One of my favorite notes from our interview was when Michael Douglas told us about his first reading of the film. As he was going over the script, he got to about page 70 and thought his character, Hank Pym, died. He was sure that couldn’t be it for Pym but it was what he read. When they called to ask his response on the script he told them it was really good. BUT… he thought they should “make a little more” out of his death scene rather than just passing over it. When he discovered he did not die on page 70 he was relieved. Ha!

Marvel's Ant-Man  Hank Pym (Michael Douglas)
Photo Credit: Zade Rosenthal © Marvel 2014

So what made him want to do a Marvel film anyway? It was something different and he wanted to give it a try. two of his best buddies, Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito, seemed to have a great time playing  The Joker and The Penguin, so he thought he would give it a go. Thus, when it was offered he thought it would be cool. Honestly, after watching the movie, I thought the part was written for him.

Marvel's Ant-Man  Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Paul Rudd
Photo Credit: Zade Rosenthal © Marvel 2014

Speaking of writing, Michael Douglas mentioned getting frustrated after giving a 5-minute monologue explaining an important aspect of the plot, only to have Paul Rudd come in a throw down a one-line punch. Since Paul wrote part of the script, they would get a laugh out of that. Both Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly spoke in high regards for Mr. Douglas, and he returned the sentiment.

Marvel's Ant-Man Michael Douglas and Corey Stoll
Photo Credit: Zade Rosenthal © Marvel 2014

After we watched the movie, I immediately commented on how funny it was and how much I laughed. Michael Douglas said basically the same thing. Plus, he told us that he was definitely “drinking the Kool-Aid” with the Marvel family. His last line of the interview pretty much summed it all up,

I’m happy to be part of the Marvel Universe. I didn’t realize I had to get tattooed.

Don’t miss Marvel’s Ant-Man as it rides into theaters Friday, July 17th.