At long last, Marvel’s Ant-Man is rolling cameras today, with Yes Man helmer Peyton Reed sitting comfortably in the director’s chair (having replaced Edgar Wright, whose departure following script changes marked the beginning of a highly tumultuous period for the project). Today, as the film kicks off production in San Francisco, the studio has released a final casting announcement, adding John Slattery, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, rapper T.I. and comedian Gregg Turkington (aka Neil Hamburger) in supporting roles.
Though it’s still unclear who most of the aforementioned actors will be playing in Ant-Man, Cannavale, known for his role on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and in last year’s Blue Jasmine, makes sense as a replacement for Patrick Wilson, who was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. As for which character Wilson was going to be playing, we’ve heard it’s a villain, and that’s about it.
Additionally, Slattery will almost certainly be reprising the role of Howard Stark, which he previously played in Iron Man 2 via archival video footage. This suggests that Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), the original inventor of the Ant-Man technology, will indeed cross paths with Stark, and subsequently characters like Peggy Carter (Haley Atwell), Arnim Zola (Toby Jones) and a young Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford in The Winter Soldier), as previously reported.
From what we know of Ant-Man so far, Douglas plays Pym, the original Ant-Man, who winds up passing the torch to thief Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) after his former business partner Darren Cross (Corey Stoll, whose character is also the supervillain Yellowjacket) steals the technology. With Lang’s help, Pym schemes to steal back the equipment in an audacious heist.
Evangeline Lilly will play Hope Van Dyne, Pym’s estranged daughter, while Michael Pena, Wood Harris and David Dastmalchian also have supporting roles, though their characters are still unknown.
Ant-Man opens July 18th, 2015.
