When people hear the term ‘reshoot,’ they sometimes have a tendency to panic, picturing a dramatic overhaul of a troubled production that serves as a last-ditch effort to piece together something watchable. While this is sometimes more or less the case (2015’s Fantastic Four springs to mind), often these reshoots only amount to some minor adjustments, as was seemingly the case with Ant-Man and the Wasp, which reportedly had some parts redone earlier this year.
Studio president Kevin Feige recently shed some light on the process while on a promotional tour for the new superhero sequel, explaining that it was no big deal and just part of the process.
“We test; there are earlier versions of Ant-Man and the Wasp that you would not be saying nice things about, as is true for all of our films. You cut together what you have and watch it, you see what you have and how you want to adapt it, you go and shoot additional materials (which we do on all of our movies) and we begin to shape it. I don’t think people realize what a collaborative, living, sort of piece of art a film is. Four weeks ago, this movie was different.”
Last month, actors Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany also reflected on their experiences reshooting the Avengers movies. The stars behind Scarlet Witch and Vision explained how reshoots are often done at the same time as the actual shoots, and sometimes in whole other continents from the original shoot’s location.
Perhaps such measures are to be expected from a studio that’s known to have a whole load of money to throw around and a history of perfectionism when it comes to pleasing the fans. And given their extraordinary run of critical and commercial success for the last ten years, it probably pays for Marvel to be a little fussy.
While Ant-Man and the Wasp is currently fairing respectably at the box office, just wait until Avengers 4 comes out on May 3rd, 2019 if you really want to see an example of the Marvel production process on steroids.
