Second update, one week later: But Peyton Reed will, with McKay making contributions to Joe Cornish, Edgar Wright, and several unnamed Marvel executives’ screenplay.
Update: McKay has himself ended negotiations, putting Marvel back into search mode.
It was just over a week ago that we got the disappointing news that Edgar Wright‘s long-in-development Marvel project Ant-Man would not be directed by… Edgar Wright. Clashing with a homogenized new script Marvel forced upon him (shocker!), the helmer walked (along with his upper-level crew, including cinematographer Bill Pope), leaving the studio in a hurry to make a replacement in order to secure the July 2015 release date — of course, that being the most important thing in their minds when all is said and done.
After being interested in Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, Gangster Squad) and Rawson Marshall Thurber (We’re the Millers), Ain’t It Cool reports they’re in talks with the other option in the rumored group, Adam McKay (Anchorman, The Other Guys). While he has yet to formally sign, the trades also back up the claim, stating he’s officially in talks. He seems like a solid choice, particularly considering his relationship with Ant-Man star Paul Rudd. With virtually the entire film (specifically the action scenes) already pre-visualized, it seems like it’ll be one of McKay’s easier jobs, primarily focusing on getting the comedic beats right, something he certainly knows well.
We’ll see the results when Ant-Man opens on July 17th, 2015. In the meantime, hopefully we get word of Wright’s next feature soon.
Do you think McKay is a good replacement?