Bryan Bishop: This project pretty famously had a well-known director who had been developing it for years, then stepped away in a high-profile way. How did you approach that situation when you came on board?

Peyton Reed: As a fan, I was sort of watching and reading: "I’m psyched to see Ant-Man, I can’t wait!" And then the thing happened, and all of that preceded me. But Kevin [Feige] called. I had known Kevin since 2003; I had developed The Fantastic Four for about a year at Fox, when Kevin was a junior at Marvel, and then later I came in and pitched on Guardians [of the Galaxy]. So I came in and read the drafts of the script, and there were a bunch of drafts that had been done, and then we talked about the movie. My attitude going in was that I love Ant-Man. I grew up on Marvel comics, and I have definite ideas about the character, and I’m just going to respond to how I feel about the script.

"I grew up on Marvel comics, and I have definite ideas about the character."

In Edgar and Joe Cornish’s original script, it was their idea to make it a heist movie. It was their idea to key off that Marvel Premiere issue, "To Steal An Ant-Man," about the introduction of Scott Lang, and make it a mentor-pupil story. And I think it was also their idea to build to a third act that took place in a little girl’s bedroom. I thought it was amazing!

But I also felt like there was stuff that I wanted to see from the comics that wasn’t in the movie at the time. So [Anchorman writer Adam] McKay and Rudd came on to write as I was coming on to direct. Adam and Paul were holed up at the Chateau Marmont, writing, and there was stuff that we wanted to add. I really wanted to strengthen the heist motif of the movie. There’s the section where Scott goes in to steal the suit, and McKay had called in this securities expert, and we sat with him and talked about how you would get into a safe. That whole section of Paul breaking into [Hank Pym’s house] and getting through the laser scanner, that was not in the original drafts.

Also it was McKay’s idea that in every heist movie there’s a trial by fire where everything’s set, "But we need this one element! We have to get it!" And in this movie, it sends [Paul Rudd] on a journey where he encounters another Marvel character. Particularly with that particular character, it thrilled me. That tapped into my childhood love of Marvel comics.