Michael Douglas Is "Hank Pym" In 'Ant-Man'

Michael Douglas Explains Why He's In ANT-MAN: "I've Been Dying To Do A Marvel" Movie

Commenting on director Edgar Wright, his script and appearing in sequels, Michael Douglas explains why he agreed to play Hank Pym in Marvel Studios' Ant-Man adaptation. Check it out after the jump!

By DCMarvelFreshman - 1/13/2014

Marvel Studios surprised many Monday when they announced that Michael Douglas had signed on to star opposite Paul Rudd in the forthcoming Ant-Man movie. Becoming a trending topic on Twitter immediately following the announcement, the veteran actor says the unexpected aspect of his casting is one of the reasons he agreed to dip into the comic book movie genre. The other reasons?

“I've been dying to do a Marvel picture for so long,” he told Reuters recently. “The script is really fun, the director is really good. Dylan (his 13-year-old son) will love it. He'll have a picture he can see.” About his decision to surprise everyone with a superhero film, the actors says, “Sometimes - like [when] they didn't see you for Liberace - you've got to shake them up a little bit and have some fun.” While Douglas has done only one sequel in his entire career, which spans nearly 50 years, the actor teased involvement in Ant-Man sequels. “[Marvel] reciprocated well, there are sequels. Who knows?” he said. Safe to say he signed a multi-picture deal. Anyhow, the film starts principal photography in May and is set for release on July 31, 2015. What do you think?

non_amos wrote:AP, where did you get that from? I don't see a link. Anyway, I saw that yesterday at Singer Homo Hype but as usual I'm working again all the time & tired then & didn't feel like posting. However, I didn't read anything about Douglas being enthusiastic to do a film that's 'comic booky'. And Robert Redford is in the next Captain America film, correct? So why is it now all of a sudden cool for major stars to appear in these films? This is a far cry from the not so distant days of actors like Josh Hartnett, who didn't want to play Superman because it was uncool or something. Or Ashton Kutcher who cited 'the Superman curse'. Well, thank you, Hartnett especially, for not portraying Supes. That's in good hands after all. Loved your 30 Days Of Night but not your attitude.

But turnabout is fair play. Now we have the likes of Douglas, Redford, even Anthony Hopkins for crying out loud, in films that are comic booky. And I'm sure I'm leaving some out too. Russell Crowe for example. And look at Samuel L. Jackson. The dude can't get enough of appearing in this type of fare! Your loss, Hartnett, etc. As they say, moving on....................

As for Douglas as Hank Pym, that threw me for the proverbial loop! But let me say this & it has nothing to do with Douglas' abilities. I just question the direction they're taking with Ant-Man. To me, he & his wife Janet (Wasp) were founding members of the Avengers, right? But not so in the cinematic universe & obviously a different take altogether. Will Douglas be like 'Earth-2' to Paul Rudd? Will there even be Wasp? So my concerns are with the story itself, not Douglas. Douglas can act anything. I got a kick out of him in Falling Down, a film where he plays this white collar worker who basically succumbs to the ultimate road rage due to being stuck in traffic. He just goes psycho!