The Ant-Man star talks improv on the set, doing comedy and The Martian.
Den Of Geek: People were really talking about your character stealing the show a little bit.
Have you seen some of that online?
Even if you are well-intentioned, theres some mean people behind a keyboard.
You are like, Im just not gonna do it.
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Have you heard it from people in interviews?
I heard that the movie is great.
Hopefully I have a job if theres a sequel.
When I first came on, in all honesty, it wasnt that big of a role.
I initially wanted just to work with Edgar Wright.
I have a six-year-old kid, so I dont really watch too many movies.
Ive watchedInside OutandUp, things like that.
And I really enjoyed them.
Whats funny is that this is almost an animated movie but with real people.
When I read Edgar Wrights script, I was thoroughly amazed and just how detailed it was.
Every script always goes through rewrites so that everyone loves it.
And then Marvel…it was so weird shooting this movie.
Oh, this is really working.
Lets go more here.
Literally, they wrote me like five scenes or something like that in reshoots, which was fantastic.
So I guess Im lucky that I was able to make the cut.
When did the idea of him being this secret expert on wine and art come about?
That was a new thing.
There were these two writers…God.
What were their names?
It wasnt Wright and it wasnt Adam McKay.
They gave it to Marvel and Marvel said, Yes.
I said, How the hell did you guys make this up?
It was like, I dont know man…
So that team, they came up with the tone of it and it was perfect.
you’re able to make the room laugh, but its like reading a comic.
Its like whats going to make you laugh in the comic?
Its not necessarily playing the room, its playing the story.
Was the Edgar Wright script vastly different to the one that we see now?
Theres things that were more pronounced.
But he cracked the story of Ant-Man.
Thats a huge thing.
Hopefully his fans are going to be thankful about this movie.
But he cracked that story.
Did Peyton give you an idea of how those tip montages would look?
You know whats funny?
I tried out two ways to do it and Im like, Its not working.
I was shittin the bed literally.
It was not good.
So I emulated him.
And he just sounds funny.
Hes always smiling or whatever.
But its exposition, really.
And its the hardest thing for me to do.
And Peyton was like, Dont worry about it.
He had no pressure on me.
Because I got it the night before, I couldnt memorize three, four pages.
So I literally was just mumbling sometimes to take a stab at get to it.
[laughs] What was funny is that it ended up in the movie.
Where am I going?
And hes like, No, no!
You walk onto a Marvel set, is the feeling any different from other film productions?
I just did a movie with Ridley Scott.
That guy is…I hope to do more work with that guy.
A good director is like a good coach.
You want to play for him.
You want to really show him your good stuff.
You dont want to let that person down.
Ridley Scott is one of those guys.
He would always be like, Just try it.
It was always like going to acting class.
Im like, I dont know if I want to improv and mess up this scene.
But they let me run with it.
Talk about working with Ridley, because well see you inThe Martianlater this year.
Its a sci-fi movie and I love sci-fi.
Shooting with that guy as just unbelievable.
He had five cameras at one time.
He was actually juggling five cameras perfectly.
And hed be on his mic and telling everybody what to set up.
And hes like, Yes, yes, yes.
Its always interesting when a director is so involved, but you have no idea what hes doing.
Hes cut it in his head.
He would be like, Mike, on scene 86, did you like that line?
I was like, I dont know what that line…Scene 86…
I memorized my lines, but Im like, I have no idea…
I think hes got a photographic memory.
So he storyboards everything.
The look of it is amazing.
Im glad to be in both movies.
Ant-Manis out now in theaters.
