Ant-Man and the wasp: from the set

One day in September 2017 we went to Pinewood Studios in Atlanta to visit the largest ensemble ever created for a Marvel movie. At that time, the secret surrounded the project, but even if we could talk with the creators and protagonists of the film.

It all starts with a search. Or at least that's what the producer entrusts to me Stephen Broussard a morning of September 2017 sitting in a room full of images and models printed in three dimensions that recreate places of Ant-Man and the wasp . We are at Pinewood Studios, located about an hour from downtown Atlanta, and a few rooms away from the largest together ever built for a Marvel movie.

"Scott Lang has been under house arrest for two years, I think from the events of Civil War ," says Broussard, referring to the iconic battle at the airport in which a giant Ant-Man generates the wreckage that will eventually lead to the prison.If he behaves well, they will release him soon.But Hank and Hope will look for him to tell him that they need to his help for a very specific reason: they will find Janet …

Janet Van Dyne ( Michelle Pfeiffer ) The wife of Dr. Hank Pym ( Michael Douglas ) , the scientist who created the Ant-Man suit, disappeared more than 30 years ago by deactivating a missile destined for the North American territory.

The event is known thanks to the first superhero movie in which we witnessed the flashback of the first Ant-Man (Pym) accompanied on mission by Th e Wasp (Janet) Faced with a break in Pym's costume, the woman made the decision to become a subatomic to penetrate the titanium structure of the missile and disable it.

Janet did not come back. The woman was lost forever in the Quantum Kingdom leaving a void in the life of Hank and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly).

But Hank never stopped looking for it.

THE ENTRY TO THE QUANTUM KINGDOM

The whole is simply beautiful. Recreate a huge two-story laboratory and it's full of computers, monitors and buttons. Some things seem to be of last generation, but others belong to a similar yesterday in shades of monochromatic green. There is a panel in which objects that should be small appear on a large scale: a clip a piece of Lego, the volume knob of an old radio, the clip to close a bag of bread. It is a place of experimentation with the dimension of objects.

In the distance I see the central part of together : it is a long tunnel that is becoming smaller and smaller. On the walls and on the roof are strange brown modules interspersed with white cells and connected by cables. In the background, a gilded door surrounded by spheres with a texture that makes me think of a bee nest. One way leads to the door …

Dr. Hank Pym experimented with the molecular structure of objects to change their size. The tunnel is perhaps his greatest achievement. It serves as a kind of launch pad towards the Quantum Kingdom. A vehicle is placed in the lane and, as it gets closer to the portal, its size will decrease until it becomes subatomic and enter the dimension in which Janet could still be alive.

It's here, right here,

Before you visit the set Stéphane Ceretti director special effects film, m & # 39, talked about the Quantum Kingdom and the road. who followed to create it.

"We had already shown it in the first part and also in Dr. Strange We tried to take elements of the language that we had already used and from that moment on we've been digging deeper and deeper, and I can not go too far, but this time the characters will spend a lot more time in the quantum realm, "he says. play with the scale of things. Now we have Ant-Man and The Wasp together. Now both can interact with each other. They will not always be the same size. If one is big, the other can be small. This gives the band a different dynamism. It also allows us to play with the movements of the camera. "

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR

From an monitor I watch again and again the scene that evangelize Lilly and Paul Rudd on the day of our visit." As far as I can understand, they are in the laboratory of Dr. Bill Foster ( Laurence Fishburne ), one of the film's new characters, who seems to have a common past with Hank Pym.Foster is unconscious and The Wasp runs towards him for the Peyton Reed the director of the film, gives hints between shots He has been involved in the Marvel universe since 2015, when he directed Ant-Man and delighted fans and critics with a light tone that mingled action and a sense of humor, which is what made Marvel look for him again to do the trick. [19659005] In one of his breaks, we have the right to talk to him. "The feeling of this second part is different from u first. The sequel is like a kind of road movie . The tone is similar to Flight at midnight or After the hour "he explains. " This is a search and rescue film, but with elements taken from the crime stories of Elmore Leonard .Here, there are many characters, not just those we know from the first part, there are new villains and antagonists. "

The bad guys could not tell us much because there was an absolute secret around them. Today, however, we know that the villain is Ghost ( Hannah John-Kamen ), a stranger who can dematerialize and cross the walls.

At that time, Reed preferred to talk about The Wasp. "I think that, although we did not see it with the costume, the first film was about the origins of The Wasp, we knew Hope van Dyne well and we saw how she treated an overprotective father after the loss of In the sequel, the father and the daughter manage to solve their problems and finally we have the opportunity to see her in her costume.The film celebrates her arrival, but in reality, Ant-Man and The Wasp are the protagonists.The band is both. "

PAUL RUDD, RETURN TO ACTION

C & Is a good day to visit the shoot, since Paul Rudd wears the Ant-Man outfit. Contrary to what the film lets us believe, it's a stiff and uncomfortable outfit. The actor repeats the role that has added to the world of Marvel and that has earned him a worldwide fame. Before playing the superhero, his career was focused on romantic comedies and television series. Standing, because with the costume it is impossible for him to sit, Paul Rudd talks about the evolution of the relationship between Scott and Hope

"I think that we discover our strengths and what it means to work as a team We do not have a good start together, because after Infinity War I caused them problems by giving them notoriety ", said Rudd, referring to the giant Ant-Man incident. "As the band progresses, we begin to understand and relax."

Has the costume been changed from 39, one cbadette on the other? "Yes. It is badumed that the costume of the first band was designed several years ago. So I had a lot of badogic things. In addition, I was scuffed and mistreated. For Civil War they improved it a bit. It is a hybrid between the first and that of Civil War . It looks like the original, but it no longer has multiple cables and is better supported. "

EVANGELINE, THE HUGGING CHARACTER

In one of the post-generic scenes of Ant-Man Dr. Hank Pym shows Hope the prototype of the wasp suit that he was building for his mother and that he has never used.The scientist says to his girl that he now understands that he's really built for her and the woman responds: "I've been waiting a long time."

Although when he comes to talk to us he did not see his costume, but sportswear, Of ​​course, the wait is finally over. Evangeline Lilly not only repeats the role of Hope van Dyne, but plays now The Wasp and he talks about the difficulties in bringing the character back to life.

"Narratively, there is not much time that has elapsed between a film and the other . The first week of shooting was a torture, because I did not know if I was doing well. Obviously, Hope should have changed a lot by the narrative arc of Ant-Man : repairing a relationship that was broken with your father for over 30 years should have a profound effect on the # 39; a. I wanted to demonstrate this change. But, at the same time, he could not be so different from the character in the first part. I was terrified at the thought of not knowing if I was doing it properly. "

" I asked you to put on the wasp costume to help make this change? "Yes, it was like taking a firm step towards the person who always knew what it was and not only dreaming about it and still being in a state of frustration." Now Hope is completely liberated, realized, and in control of the circumstances and I think it's good. "

The courageous young woman who in the first film only attends the superhero and his father, this time is fighting in the foreground to find his mother no matter who she faces or even

Because research, the one with which everything starts, actually belongs to Hope Van Dyne

and The Wasp.