Peyton Reed and Edgar Wright exchanged 'some emails' about 'Ant-Man'

Michael Douglas is having a rough day. In an interview at EW‘s Comic-Con Hideout, the Ant-Man star confessed that he was experiencing gas and was “f–king melting.” No one said Comic-Con was easy.

Despite Douglas’ struggles, the cast was happy to tell EW as much as they could about the upcoming Marvel movie—which isn’t too much. But it did come to light that Evangeline Lilly is having a hard time playing dumb when people ask her about the movie and that Paul Rudd has a tie clip—just don’t ask him about it; he might get self-conscious.

EW: It’s Comic-Con 2014. I am here with the cast of Ant-Man. And secrecy on this film is so extreme that poor Evangeline Lilly thought I was in the cast. Who would I play in this movie?

Evangeline Lilly: And poor Evangeline Lilly has spent two days at Comic-Con being asked about Ant-Man and having to plead the fifth. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” “Ant-Man, is that a new thing coming out?”

The Ant-Man, they used to live down the street, right? So you play Hank Pym, you’re Scott Lang. Both of these guys have been Ant-Man in the Marvel Comics. You’re the inventor of the Ant-Man outfit. So what’s the relationship between you and Paul’s character, Scott?

Michael Douglas: I’m f–king melting. I’m f–king melting. All right, here we go. Let’s try to make this as concise as possible. My name is Dr. Henry Pym. I’m an entomologist. I’m also a physicist and I discovered in 1963, a way, a serum to reduce a human being to the size of ant maintaining the strength. Not only that, but I was able to find a way to communicate with the ants. But unfortunately during this process, a tragic personal accident happened with my wife, my daughter, Evangeline, Hope. So I’ve had to pass my powers and strengths onto a mentor. Because my partner, my partner, Corey over there, f–ked me good.

Paul Rudd: That has nothing to do with the film, that’s a personal thing. It’s been going on between Corey and Michael all day. It’s been awkward. We’ve had to separate them.

EL: That’s why the three of us are between them.

MD: Paul has done such a extraordinary job preparing for this role that they’ve had to remove his Ant-Man costume because his physique and his abs are stronger than what they made for the costume.

Did you really bust out of the costume?

Paul Rudd: I’ve ripped through three costumes already.

Peyton Reed: Four.

Paul Rudd: Four.

EL: That can be very uncomfortable.

Paul Rudd: And we haven’t… We’ve only been rehearsing.

MD: Peyton is the patriarch figure.

Let’s talk about Scott. In the comics, he’s a thief. He steals the suit. What makes him a good guy then?

MD: Because it’s for benevolence.

Paul Rudd: It’s a great question. One that’s been hotly debated for a while. There are levels. There are some pretty bad thieves and there’s some really good thieves, let’s be honest. There’s people who do it for the right reasons.

MD: Darren Cross, my partner, my mentor, my nemesis, has taken my company and taken it in a different direction.

Paul Rudd: You don’t want to give away too much here. The blow-dart might come out. Right in your neck. Marvel’s serious, they have blow darts aimed at all of us right now.

MD: I need help, I desperately need help. I need someone who’s a master thief, someone with a brilliant mind, and somebody who can pull off a really great heist.

So you’ve gotta steal from a bad guy and when you steal from a bad guy, that’s good. Two wrongs make a right.

EL: You said it so much more succinctly than Paul.

Paul Rudd: Which is not hard. I don’t mean to rain on your parade. But you did do a great job with it.

Can I join the cast now? Can I play an ant?

EL: A tiny little ant. Probably not a big boss ant yet. You can work your way up.

And you’re wearing the part. You’ve got the little ant clip-on, the tie clip. Custom-made?

Paul Rudd: No, it’s a vintage tie clip. I feel a little self-conscious now. It’s maybe a little too cute.

So Peyton, everybody knows you’ve taken over this film.

Peyton Reed: Yes, everybody knows.

What’s that like, what’s it like jumping into a car that’s moving along at breakneck speed?

MD: Watch it. Watch it now.

Peyton Reed: I have to say, it’s actually great. Because everybody from the cast and the crew are like A-plus-plus. And the stuff that we’re doing in terms of the visuals of the movie is going to be unlike any other Marvel movie. I mean, it’s different than the other superhero movies because it takes place in the real world but we experience it from a radically different perspective. In terms of the shrinking stuff, you’re going to see stuff that just has never been done in a movie.

Cold water on Paul.

Peyton Reed: We really discovered the Pym particle.

What’s the real relationship between you and Edgar? Do you have a conversation when a director moves off a project and another moves in? Do you end up having a discussion?

Peyton Reed: Edgar and I did exchange some emails, yeah.

EL: Very angry emails. I’m just kidding.

Peyton Reed: Actually very good emails.

So what else do we need to know about Ant-Man from this point forward?

MD: I have gas.

Paul Rudd: One of the reasons why Hank can no longer wear the suit. The gas. When you’re this big, you might not be able to see him, but you still know he’s there.

And that’s what angers the insects, and you’ve got to communicate with them. So Pym, he’s a character that has a vocal comic backstory that you hinted at, with her mom, with Evangeline’s character’s mom. This is a guy who has a hot temper. So is this part of the screen version of Pym?

MD: I’m not sure, I haven’t seen the script yet.