ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: Michelle Pfeifer Was Always The First Pick For The Original WASP

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Say what you will about Tim Burton’s 1992 film Batman Returns (I for one love it). It bears very little in the ways of accuracy of the portrayal of its characters, the pacing is a bit off and it focuses far more on its villains than it does the Dark Knight himself- but man, is Michelle Pfeiffer utterly perfect as Selina Kyle and Catwoman. She wasn’t particular on point with her comic book counterpart, but much like her co-star under the cowl, Pfeiffer made the role her own and owned it. There’s a reason that performance is still highly regarded among fans of the comic book genre almost thirty years later.

Which is exactly why fans have been excited to see Pfeiffer return to the genre in Peyton Reed’s upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp after so many years as the original Wasp, Janet Van Dyne. Van Dyne is obviously a very different character from Catwoman, but Pfeiffer remains a wonderful talent to this day. Much like she did with Selina Kyle in 1992, Pfeiffer offers the opportunity of providing an interesting and unique take on the character.

Judging by his comments with The Hollywood Reporter, director Peyton Reed feels exactly the same way. Reed stated, “We used a double on the first movie. But the whole thing was, ‘I want her to look like Michelle Pfeiffer, because that would be my dream casting for Wasp.’ We cast this woman to be in the mask who had really saucer-like, Michelle Pfeiffer eyes.”

The Ant-Man And The Wasp interview continues:

“It’s a big deal that Michelle Pfeiffer chose to star in this movie 26 years after Batman Returns. Did she have any requests before being convinced to sign on?

I had no idea if she would even be remotely interested in doing this kind of a movie again or how she’d feel about it. So, we met. She came over and sat in one of the conference rooms, just the two of us at Marvel and kind of talked through who Janet Van Dyne was in the comics and who she might be in this movie. She was really funny, because one of the first things she said to me, she was like, “You know. I’m going to tell you up front. My process on every single movie I have ever done in my career, I’ve tried to back out of the movie at the last minute. That’s just my M.O.”

So she warned you ahead of time that she might back out?

Yeah. I thought about it. And I said to her, “Is this your way to say you want me to woo you more? Is that part of the thing?” She’s like, “No, legitimately — yes, I want you to woo me more, but legitimately it’s that kind of thing [that I try to back out of roles].” … Then after meeting her, it became more and more, “Now I’m convinced if she doesn’t do it, I’m going to be a wreck.” We gave her some comics. I said, “You can scour the internet and do all the research you want, but it’s only going to get you so far, because the comics and that character started in the early ’60s. A lot of the stuff in the comics is really two-dimensional, if not one-dimensional, and we want to do something different. We talked about what it could be, and I wanted her input throughout in terms of the character, without giving too much away. But for me it was a thrill to be working with her because she is incredible.“

Personally I’m excited to see what Pfeiffer brings to the role when Ant-Man And The Wasp arrives later this week! Be sure to share your own thoughts on the matter in the comments section below!

SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter