I pinch myself at all Marvel opportunities. I was on the Antman and The Wasp set secret visit! (insert screams) This visit has been an incredible dream come true of Giantman proportions, of course. The truth is that my Marvel fangirl heart is about to explode everytime I think of it. While in Atlanta, we explored the set, ate with the crew, we interviewed the phenomenal talent AND we were in the room while some scenes were being taped! Being the Fly on The Wall at The AntMan and The Wasp Set was POW! Here are all the details, plus our exclusive interview with executive producer Stephen Broussard.
I was invited by Disney to the AntMan and the Wasp Set in Atlanta in Pinewood Studios. All opinions shared are my own.
Photo credit: Marvel
Being The Fly on The Wall at The AntMan and The Wasp Set
Allowed me to get crucial top secret Marvel information. I think we all need that after what we witnessed in Avengers: Infinity War.
Classified Field Op – A Day on The Marvel The AntMan and The Wasp Set in Atlanta
After we arrived on set and got official, we were escorted to a conference room where we would be secluded for the day….or so they thought. My investigative antennae were on and started over-analyzing the cool AntMan and the Wasp posters on the wall. I couldn’t believe that the team was not prepared for our covert visit: there was a scale model of the tunnel….I don’t know what it was, executive producer Stephen Broussard slips and tells us below. I’m sure it is top secret, important, and crucial to the dealings of AntMan and The Wasp. It was in this room that we posed as bloggers and interviewed the talent. After grueling them, we went out to the lot to see what clues we could find around, eavesdrop and pretend like we were just journalists ready to grab a bite at the commissary. While no one was watching, we snuck up to Pym’s laboratory.
Hank Pym’s Lab
I have to say that literally walking on the set of Pym’s lab was like a giant playground. There were all sorts of basic office and home items that made me feel a lot more petite than I already am, not sure why :-). It is really cool to see some of these items in the trailer now.
Security Level 7 or Above Required
Finally, we found The Antman and The Wasp plotting on set. Absolute silence was needed to observe them in action. Luckily we found a screen and headsets that allowed us to listen in on EVERYTHING everyone was saying (director, crew members, everyone!), official lines and otherwise. It was hilarious to hear Evangeline Lilly and Paul Rudd with their commentary in between takes. I am proud to say our cover worked like a charm, they did talk about the cool bloggers and how they couldn’t wait to talk to us :-). We saw them work for over half an hour shoot the same scene from different angles
AntMan and The Wasp Executive Producer Stephen Broussard Exclusive Interview
Interrogating Executive Prodcude Stephen Broussard gave us important yet limited insights on the dealings of AntMan and The Wasp. The first thing we discovered is that The AntMan and The Wasp is set right after Captain America: Civil War. Scott Lang has now signed the Sokovia Accords and is under house arrest. He has 72 hours left to be a free man. Something he is looking forward to because in the end he is a family man, wants to be there for his daughter and leave his criminal days behind him. But…..
It is about family
Hope and Hank, Scot and Cassie, even the Ant-ourage all point towards the importance of family in this film. Even the title of the movie nods in this family direction (not AntMan 2) were AntMan and The Wasp could possibly work as partners. The contentious relationship of Hope and Hank is on the mend as they work together to find mom. Having in common being annoyed at Scott for going out to help Captain America without consulting them. And of course the core struggle AntMan has of wanting to be the best father for his daughter.
How do the characters evolve?
S. Broussard: “Scott’s been through this adventure where he kind of decided whether or not he wanted to be Ant-Man or not at the beginning. We kind of pick him up at the beginning of this movie and he’s not sure, and once again it is a crash into his life in a way that is counter to him being present for his daughter. So when we sort of to meet him, he’s basically saying I can’t do this anymore, I need to step away with this. And conversely, we’re meeting Hope who’s finally allowed by her overprotective father after these years, to step into the role of hero. So she’s sort of off the leash, off the chain, going crazy, kicking butt. We meet her in a really heightened amazing heroic place.” He goes on to share that Hope is not happy with Scott. Because of his Civil War actions, the government is looking at her and their suits and the Hank Pym technology in order for them to sign the accords as well.
“[Hope and Hank Pym] don’t take very well to authority, they never have. So they kind of go on the run and they’re on the run while they’re trying to find mom. They’re doing this incredibly difficult, incredibly complicated task of locating where Janet is in the quantum realm and how to get there while everyone is- while the government is on them and they blame Scott for that”.
Hank Pym Laboratories
Scott has Hope and Hank on the run. Thanks to the shrink and growth technology they have, they are able to hide in a “mobile” building that makes you think the father -daughter family has fallen on hard times. But in reality inside it is an amazing lab made out of found parts. Like Legos, volume knobs and paper clips. It is in this lab that they are furiously working to find Janet Pym using “the tunnel”
Potential threat: look into possible kidnapping.
A Word on Ghost
Played by Hannah John-Kamen is S. Broussard’s favorite new character addition. She is both intense and vulnerable, and also needs to get to the quantum realm. I’m sure she will keep us to the edge of our seats!
Comedy on AntMan and The Wasp
The efforts we doubled and the film is really funny according to Stephen Broussard. The cast is quick on their feel and there is a lot of riffing, a lot of improv. “Michael Peña who’s so amazingly funny. But new cast Randall Park, if you know who that is, he’s an actor on ABC’s sitcom Fresh Off the Boat, hilarious. Sokovia Accords is hilarious.”
What is New on AntMan and The Wasp
- The Ant-ourage start a security company called “Ex-Con” because who better to protect you from criminals than ex-criminals. They are trying to go legit and Scott Lang has a job waiting for him when he is done with his sentence.
- The shrink and grow capabilities are now more than tiny and giant. “Other new concepts include buildings, cars that both grow and shrink. Imagine a chase scene with growing and shrinking cars!”
AntMan and The Wasp PRODUCTION DESIGNER SHEPHERD FRANKEL Exclusive Interview
Sheperd Frankel was also visiting the set when we were there. He worked on AntMan and loved the idea of jumping on AntMan and The Wasp because “This is the perfect fit for me and what I loved so much about the first film was that it takes place in real kind of environments. With real kind of people, problems, and challenges. Like a normal guy trying to get his life together to be the best dad he can for his daughter, where Hank Pym is just trying to find his wife and he’s got to go to any lengths to kind of figure out where she is, and also Hank Pym kind of choosing to make sure the science he’s created is used for good and not for bad.”
Special Camera Needs
S. Frankel :“Going into the macro universe, into the quantum realm, but also into these small environments where we set up a whole kind of production timeline to shoot and film in a camera with a bunch of innovative camera techniques and lenses and approaches to shoot. there was not one oversized prop in that film and we shot all these environments in camera because the camera behaved certain ways and there wanted to be a sense of real, where walls were and how a camera can move and tell a story in these small environments, so that was a really cool technical element of the first Ant-Man that we are doubling down on, on this one, so the difference is we, you know, we meet our characters a couple years later.”.
Building Pym’s Lab
Sheperd Frankel was very happy to share about the lab “It is an exciting environment built from found pieces and everyday kind of, like, erector sets and Lego pieces and we’ve set up a series of, yes, Easter eggs, that I almost don’t want to kind of spill because I want you guys to find them and see them and it’s being taken apart, but in the film, you will see them and we’ve built them live, so unlike the first movie where we didn’t build one oversized prop. In this film, we definitely built oversize set pieces and objects to be integrated as if Hank Pym is building a lab on his table and then he would grow it because he knows how to grow and shrink things. He would grow it, work on it, habitat, you know, inhabit it and function in there and then it would shrink again and it was if you and I were to make a model and we’d use a paper clip and a, we’d drop a glue cap occasionally, but, so there are things to find.”
I can totally relate to a very big word around me, but in this case, the idea is for people who watch the film to wonder if they had really shrunk. The details were tailored to created such a feeling and be immersed in the diminutive environment Almost give us a sense of vertigo going from big to small.
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