Celebrity: Evangeline Lilly: ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ is ‘big, bold, fun’

ATLANTA — For Evangeline Lilly, big things come in big packages.

After co-starring opposite Paul Rudd’s pint-sized hero in 2015’s Ant-Man, the Lost actress is getting a big upgrade for next month’s sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp.

After all, it’s the first time that Marvel has put a female superhero’s name in the title of one of its Marvel Cinematic Universe films.

“I was thrilled on my own behalf, and I was thrilled on the behalf of females everywhere,” Lilly says, recounting her reaction to the news that her character Hope van Dyne (a.k.a. Wasp) was getting a bigger piece of the action in film number two. 

Lilly — in full Wasp gear no less — is on a break from shooting a fight scene opposite Hannah John-Kamen’s villainous Ghost (a hacker with the power to walk through walls) inside the historic Whitehall Ballroom in downtown Atlanta.

Who wouldn’t want to have their own standalone film? But as I’ve said. I’m really invested in this Ant-Man and the Wasp partnership

Evangeline Lilly on whether she’d like to see her Wasp character get her own solo film

Unbeknownst passersby stream past giant windows as stunt doubles, Lilly and Kamen alternate takes for what will be one of the film’s most pivotal scenes. Wasp will go from big to small to big as she avoids bullets, knives and broken glass.  

Most of the movie’s plot points are secret, and the Alberta-born Lilly is careful to repeatedly check with a nearby handler from Marvel as to how much she can divulge (“He’s under embargo, right?”).

But what we do know is Ant-Man and the Wasp is the 20th entry in the MCU and follows April’s Avengers: Infinity War. Next year, the studio will release Captain Marvel and then its untitled fourth Avengers movie will close out what Marvel President Kevin Feign says constitutes a “22-film narrative arc.” Lilly and Rudd, who were absent from Infinity War, pop up in Avengers 4 (Lilly has hinted that time travel elements in that storyline give it a Lost Season 4 vibe).

And if you’re inclined into thinking that Ant-Man and the Wasp will directly answer any of the dangling plot points from Infinity War, guess again. 

The sequel takes place in the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War as Scott Lang (a.k.a. Ant-Man), van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) embark on a mission to save Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) — Hope’s mother and Hank’s wife — from the Quantum Realm, an alternate dimension Janet vanished into decades ago. 

In addition to Kamen’s Ghost, other new characters are introduced, including Walton Goggins’ street criminal Sonny Burch and Laurence Fishburne’s Bill Foster, a former associate of Hank’s who, in the comics, goes on to become Black Goliath.

What has Lilly most excited about Ant-Man and the Wasp is that the story from director Peyton Reed showcases the two heroes coming together to form a team. It’s not a new concept (Thor and Hulk were spectacular together in last year’s Ragnarok), but Lilly thinks Ant-Man and Wasp have a chemistry that’s unique to the MCU.

“It’s more than, ‘Oh, there’s a female titled character in this film,’” she says. “Now that I’ve seen the characters evolve, Ant-Man and Wasp, as a team and as a unit are so cool and so much fun to watch.”

As her stunt double was repeatedly whisked into the air (where in post-production she’ll be rendered into miniature form), Lilly reflected on joining Marvel’s great pantheon of female superheroes, pondered the possibility of Wasp getting her own standalone and offered up why Ant-Man and the Wasp will be a bit of a palette cleanser after the heartbreaking end to Infinity War.

You didn’t get to wear the Wasp outfit in the first Ant-Man movie. How did you react when you first put it on for Ant-Man and the Wasp?

Once it was perfected and I got to stand in front of the mirror and see what would become the Wasp, I was really giddy. It was surreal. When Paul Rudd said that the first time he saw himself in the suit he was so excited he felt like a superhero, I remember being really cynical about it and thinking, ‘Oh, give me a break.’ I wasn’t a big comic book fan and I just thought he was such a geek (laughs). Then I put on my own suit and I realized what he was talking about. It’s so cool.

We’re here today and you’ve got this big fight against Ghost. What’s it like for you to be taking on more of the action this time around?

It’s cool and exciting, but one of the tricky things about these movies is that 50% of it is done after we finish shooting. So this fight, right now, is the ugly stepsister of what the fight will actually become once they’re finished with it. I’m using my imagination and trying to fill in the blanks. There’s going to be this really cool gag where Wasp flies up into one of these incredibly enormous glass chandeliers and suddenly the goons start shooting at her and the chandelier starts exploding into shards of tiny little sparkling glass pieces and she’s flying around, evading getting killed by these little shards of glass. That will be an epic Wasp moment. 

Marvel has Captain Marvel with Brie Larson coming next year, but for now you’re the first female hero that has her name in the title of a Marvel movie. How did that make you feel?

Initially, people were so excited that it was the first female titled character in a Marvel movie. I was honoured to do that, but I also felt like maybe it should have been Scarlett (Johansson) because she’s earned it. But the thing I’m really the most excited about now is that it’s a duo. I just think that there’s a cross between Moonlighting and Batman and Robin. Everyone liked watching Batman and Robin fighting together because that dynamic is more interesting than one person fighting alone. But add to that the chemistry that Hope and Scott have and also the rub that they have because they’re personalities don’t match. That duo is really dynamic it’s really exciting for me to be a part of it.

This movie is coming out after Infinity War. How is the experience going to be different for Marvel fans?

One of the things I don’t like is when I see a movie and then in the second film they revolutionize it and turn it into something utterly different. I’m coming back for that brand. So what they can expect is to revisit the same brand. I think people will see in this film that Ant-Man is its own brand within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and in some ways I would define that brand as being really colourful. It feels like the fourth tier of Marvel’s evolution is moving all of their stories closer to that branding of being more colourful. Look at Guardians of the Galaxy, look at Ant-Man and look at Thor: Ragnarok, they all have this saturation of colourful characters and colourful shots. Everything is big and bold and fun and a little bit silly. I love that. When you think about it, superheroes are men and women in tights. It’s a silly concept and if you take it really seriously, you take the fun out of it. I think Marvel are experts at remembering to wink at the audience and give them a nudge and say, ‘Isn’t this fun?’ I love that.

What about your own story arc in this movie. What kind of journey does Wasp go on?

At the beginning of this film, she’s been embodying not only this happier, more at peace version of Hope, but she’s been wearing the mantle of the Wasp, which was her dream for two years. So she’s so much more self realized, so much more content and she has this beautiful relationship with her father and they’re hellbent on this mission together and that partnership is so loving and so opposite to where she started in the first film. The arc in this film is really about Hope accepting that she can’t do everything on her own and she might be better with a partner. She realizes her controlling nature isn’t always going to serve her well and learning how to trust Scott and learning how to lean on another person is something she has to come to terms with. 

Now that you’re getting top billing, could you see yourself doing a Wasp standalone?

Of course I could. Who wouldn’t want to have their own standalone film? But as I’ve said. I’m really invested in this Ant-Man and the Wasp partnership. When I was reading the script a thought that kept coming back to me was, ‘When do we get to see them fight together?’ I wanted to see that. I feel like if there was a Wasp standalone, the only way that would make sense to me is if there was a good reason why Scott wasn’t a part of her story at that point because they are a fantastic pair. They are a fantastic team and this film is establishing that they need one another. So if we betrayed that by randomly having Hope out on some mission on her own, I wouldn’t feel good about that. But if Scott was missing or hurt or they had a some falling out and there was a reason for him not to be there, then I could get on board with that.

Ant-Man and the Wasp opens in theatres July 6.

Twitter: @markhdaniell

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