The Boston Online Film Critics Association (BOFCA) was founded in May 2012. According to the group, BOFCA fosters a community of web-based film critics and provides them with a supportive group of colleagues and a professional platform for their voices to be heard. They collect and link to their reviews every week at a website that also features original content by members, including filmmaker interviews and spotlights on Boston’s vital repertory film scene.
By widening professional membership to writers working in new media, BOFCA aims to encourage more diverse opinions in the field. The Boston Online Film Critics Association has gathered together critics writing for publications that collectively receive over 15 million impressions/page views per month. BOFCA is present on social media year-round with members’ film articles and essays.
The 2015 Boston Online Film Critics Association Awards:
BEST PICTURE: MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
BEST DIRECTOR: George Miller, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
BEST ACTOR: Michael B. Jordan, CREED
BEST ACTRESS: Saoirse Ronan, BROOKLYN
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Sylvester Stallone, CREED
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Kristen Stewart, CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA
BEST SCREENPLAY: Tom McCarthy & Josh Singer, SPOTLIGHT
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: SON OF SAUL (Hungary)
BEST DOCUMENTARY: AMY
BEST ANIMATED FILM: INSIDE OUT
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: John Seale, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
BEST EDITING: Margaret Sixel, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Junkie XL, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
BEST ENSEMBLE: SPOTLIGHT
THE TEN BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR:
1. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
2. CREED
3. BROOKLYN
4. CAROL
5. SPOTLIGHT
6. CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA
7. BRIDGE OF SPIES
8. THE MARTIAN
9. ANOMALISA
10. TANGERINE
-----------------------------
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly Talk "Marvel's Ant-Man"
This Q&A was provided to the press by Disney's public relations and marketing partners.
AN INTERVIEW WITH PAUL RUDD AND EVANGELINE LILLY FOR THE HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASE OF MARVEL’S ANT-MAN
The latest evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe introduces the newest member of the Avengers: Marvel’s Ant-Man. Armed with the amazing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang (played by Paul Rudd) joins forces with his new mentor Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit. Full of humor and heart, as well as awesome special effects, this action-packed adventure will shortly be released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD – complete with never-before-seen deleted scenes, making-of featurettes, a gag reel and audio commentary.
To celebrate the exciting in-home release, we talk to Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly – who play Scott Lang/Ant Man and Hope Van Dyne – to discover their thoughts on the daring heist adventure…
Q: Ant-Man is an iconic new character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. How much comic book research did you undertake when you signed up for the role, Paul?
Paul: Growing up, I didn’t know about this character, so I read a lot of comics before we started shooting the movie and writing the screenplay. I did a lot of research and I tried to get into his mindset as much as possible. To prepare for the film shoot, there was also all of the physical training that I wanted to throw myself into in order to feel as though I could play the part. Not only did I want to be convincing, but that also helped me feel comfortable in the role. I enjoyed being able to do shoulder rolls and flips for the first time in my life.
Q: Does this mean you were able to tackle a lot of the stunts and fight scenes in the movie?
Paul: I did some of them; I did as much as I could do. Even when Scott is hidden in the suit and the helmet, the director wanted me to act out the scenes because you can tell when I’m not inside. You can tell when it’s me just by the way I move. However, it wasn’t all me. I had a great stuntman who could put on the suit and do the really heavy lifting. I still did a lot of the fighting, though. I worked with a gymnast who taught me all kinds of tumbling and very light parkour. It takes a while to really get it down.
Q: How else did you physically prepare for the role?
Paul: I didn’t eat anything for about a year and I worked out all the time. I took the Chris Pratt approach, which was to just basically eliminate anything fun for about a year. That’s a good way to prepare to play a superhero. But again, it also helped me feel the part.
Q: How comfortable did you feel in the Ant-Man suit?
Paul: I’m biased because I loved the suit. I think it’s the coolest-looking suit of all of them, so I loved wearing it. It was not too uncomfortable, so I’d wear it all the time – even on my days off. Something happens when you get into it. It’s inevitable. I would stand differently and I would feel different. I’d feel like Ant-Man in that thing.
Evangeline: Even though you looked like a total dork!
Paul: Ha ha! Yes, thanks. They kept the sound stages a little bit cooler because the suit didn’t really breathe that well, but it helped me feel the part. It was cool. I would sometimes catch myself and think, ‘Gosh, this thing is amazing-looking!’
Q: Let’s talk about your character, Evangeline. Hope Van Dyne has been praised by fans for being the biggest badass in the movie. Did you feel like you were playing a full-on superhero, even though she doesn’t wear a superhero costume?
Evangeline: That was the most exciting thing for me about the role. While we were filming and during post-production, there was a lot of buzz on the internet: “Is Evangeline playing the Wasp? Is she a superhero?” I had a lot of questions directed my way about that, but I couldn’t have felt more comfortable or happier saying that Hope is a really capable, very powerful force to be reckoned with. She doesn’t have a superpower and she doesn’t put on a fancy suit and look dorky in it. My super-suit was my power suit that I would go to work in to be a high-level scientist and a senior member on the board of a very powerful corporation. I think that’s a fantastic example for young women. Playing the role of female scientist in a world where mostly scientists are men is a great role to play.
Q: When the Wasp costume is revealed at the end of the movie, Hope declares: “It’s about damn time.” Did you feel like you were speaking for all womankind in finally getting this intense female superhero moment?
Evangeline: Amen and touché. I think that there is a lot of excitement with the female audience about this character in general, and about the fact that Marvel are really, really taking female characters very seriously. Looking at their line-up, you can see that they have great intentions.
Q: How much effort went into the creation of your feisty female character?
Evangeline: As a woman who came into a predominantly male film, I had a great time working with the director, Peyton Reed, and with the producers on this character because I could see a hunger in them to really do right by Hope. I know they want to do right by their female fans and the female audience. When I pick a role, one of the things that I aspire to is that somebody’s parent will come up to me after the film to say, “My daughter idealizes that character. You’re her hero.” That’s what we aim for, especially with this brand. We’re in the business of making heroes.
Q: Talking of youngsters… What does your son think of you playing a superhero, Paul?
Paul: This is the first thing I’ve ever done that they're legitimately jazzed about. My daughter is still a bit young, but my son can see it -- his friends know about it, and that's great. We were at Disneyland for an Ant-Man event a while ago and I’ll never forget the look on his face when he was watching a preview scene. As soon as it ended, he looked at me and said: “That’s awesome!” Every time a commercial comes on, they yell, “Dad, Dad, Dad!” They're so excited and I’ve never experienced that. It's wonderful to be able to share this with them.
Q: What do you think of the father-daughter storyline in Marvel’s Ant-Man? Does it add another level of depth to the character?
Paul: In regard to the father-daughter theme, that was the thing that I hung the whole story on. You can have a movie with amazing effects, brilliant visuals, a lot of action, humor and whatever – but whenever you see something that you can connect to that’s emotionally resonant, it stays with you in a very different way. I think that’s the key to any movie and that’s what I thought about throughout this whole film. That is what the movie is about.
Evangeline: And with Bobby Cannavale’s character, Paxton, and Cassie [Paxton’s stepdaughter/Scott’s daughter]; I thought it was really cool that there was also the stepfather and daughter relationship.
Paul: I also think there’s an interesting father-son dynamic with Hank Pym [played by Michael Douglas] and Darren Cross [played by Corey Stoll], so the whole idea of parents and children runs throughout the movie. I think that’s the thing that’s most relatable. I think it’s great.
ENDS
---------------------------
AN INTERVIEW WITH PAUL RUDD AND EVANGELINE LILLY FOR THE HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASE OF MARVEL’S ANT-MAN
The latest evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe introduces the newest member of the Avengers: Marvel’s Ant-Man. Armed with the amazing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang (played by Paul Rudd) joins forces with his new mentor Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit. Full of humor and heart, as well as awesome special effects, this action-packed adventure will shortly be released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD – complete with never-before-seen deleted scenes, making-of featurettes, a gag reel and audio commentary.
To celebrate the exciting in-home release, we talk to Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly – who play Scott Lang/Ant Man and Hope Van Dyne – to discover their thoughts on the daring heist adventure…
Q: Ant-Man is an iconic new character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. How much comic book research did you undertake when you signed up for the role, Paul?
Paul: Growing up, I didn’t know about this character, so I read a lot of comics before we started shooting the movie and writing the screenplay. I did a lot of research and I tried to get into his mindset as much as possible. To prepare for the film shoot, there was also all of the physical training that I wanted to throw myself into in order to feel as though I could play the part. Not only did I want to be convincing, but that also helped me feel comfortable in the role. I enjoyed being able to do shoulder rolls and flips for the first time in my life.
Q: Does this mean you were able to tackle a lot of the stunts and fight scenes in the movie?
Paul: I did some of them; I did as much as I could do. Even when Scott is hidden in the suit and the helmet, the director wanted me to act out the scenes because you can tell when I’m not inside. You can tell when it’s me just by the way I move. However, it wasn’t all me. I had a great stuntman who could put on the suit and do the really heavy lifting. I still did a lot of the fighting, though. I worked with a gymnast who taught me all kinds of tumbling and very light parkour. It takes a while to really get it down.
Q: How else did you physically prepare for the role?
Paul: I didn’t eat anything for about a year and I worked out all the time. I took the Chris Pratt approach, which was to just basically eliminate anything fun for about a year. That’s a good way to prepare to play a superhero. But again, it also helped me feel the part.
Q: How comfortable did you feel in the Ant-Man suit?
Paul: I’m biased because I loved the suit. I think it’s the coolest-looking suit of all of them, so I loved wearing it. It was not too uncomfortable, so I’d wear it all the time – even on my days off. Something happens when you get into it. It’s inevitable. I would stand differently and I would feel different. I’d feel like Ant-Man in that thing.
Evangeline: Even though you looked like a total dork!
Paul: Ha ha! Yes, thanks. They kept the sound stages a little bit cooler because the suit didn’t really breathe that well, but it helped me feel the part. It was cool. I would sometimes catch myself and think, ‘Gosh, this thing is amazing-looking!’
Q: Let’s talk about your character, Evangeline. Hope Van Dyne has been praised by fans for being the biggest badass in the movie. Did you feel like you were playing a full-on superhero, even though she doesn’t wear a superhero costume?
Evangeline: That was the most exciting thing for me about the role. While we were filming and during post-production, there was a lot of buzz on the internet: “Is Evangeline playing the Wasp? Is she a superhero?” I had a lot of questions directed my way about that, but I couldn’t have felt more comfortable or happier saying that Hope is a really capable, very powerful force to be reckoned with. She doesn’t have a superpower and she doesn’t put on a fancy suit and look dorky in it. My super-suit was my power suit that I would go to work in to be a high-level scientist and a senior member on the board of a very powerful corporation. I think that’s a fantastic example for young women. Playing the role of female scientist in a world where mostly scientists are men is a great role to play.
Q: When the Wasp costume is revealed at the end of the movie, Hope declares: “It’s about damn time.” Did you feel like you were speaking for all womankind in finally getting this intense female superhero moment?
Evangeline: Amen and touché. I think that there is a lot of excitement with the female audience about this character in general, and about the fact that Marvel are really, really taking female characters very seriously. Looking at their line-up, you can see that they have great intentions.
Q: How much effort went into the creation of your feisty female character?
Evangeline: As a woman who came into a predominantly male film, I had a great time working with the director, Peyton Reed, and with the producers on this character because I could see a hunger in them to really do right by Hope. I know they want to do right by their female fans and the female audience. When I pick a role, one of the things that I aspire to is that somebody’s parent will come up to me after the film to say, “My daughter idealizes that character. You’re her hero.” That’s what we aim for, especially with this brand. We’re in the business of making heroes.
Q: Talking of youngsters… What does your son think of you playing a superhero, Paul?
Paul: This is the first thing I’ve ever done that they're legitimately jazzed about. My daughter is still a bit young, but my son can see it -- his friends know about it, and that's great. We were at Disneyland for an Ant-Man event a while ago and I’ll never forget the look on his face when he was watching a preview scene. As soon as it ended, he looked at me and said: “That’s awesome!” Every time a commercial comes on, they yell, “Dad, Dad, Dad!” They're so excited and I’ve never experienced that. It's wonderful to be able to share this with them.
Q: What do you think of the father-daughter storyline in Marvel’s Ant-Man? Does it add another level of depth to the character?
Paul: In regard to the father-daughter theme, that was the thing that I hung the whole story on. You can have a movie with amazing effects, brilliant visuals, a lot of action, humor and whatever – but whenever you see something that you can connect to that’s emotionally resonant, it stays with you in a very different way. I think that’s the key to any movie and that’s what I thought about throughout this whole film. That is what the movie is about.
Evangeline: And with Bobby Cannavale’s character, Paxton, and Cassie [Paxton’s stepdaughter/Scott’s daughter]; I thought it was really cool that there was also the stepfather and daughter relationship.
Paul: I also think there’s an interesting father-son dynamic with Hank Pym [played by Michael Douglas] and Darren Cross [played by Corey Stoll], so the whole idea of parents and children runs throughout the movie. I think that’s the thing that’s most relatable. I think it’s great.
ENDS
---------------------------
New York Film Critics Online Put on the "Spotlight" for Best Film of 2015
The New York Film Critics Online is a group of Internet film critics based in New York City that meets once a year, in December, for voting on its annual NYFCO Awards.
2015 New York Film Critics Online honorees:
FILM:
Spotlight
DIRECTOR:
Tom McCarthy
SCREENPLAY:
Tom McCarthy and Josh Springer - Spotlight
ENSEMBLE CAST:
Spotlight
ACTRESS:
Brie Larson – Room
ACTOR:
Paul Dano - Love & Mercy
SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Rooney Mara – Carol
SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Mark Rylance - Bridge of Spies
CINEMATOGRAPHER:
John Seale, Mad Max: Fury Road
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Son of Saul (Hungary)
DOCUMENTARY:
Amy
ANIMATED FEATURE:
Inside Out
DEBUT AS DIRECTOR:
Alex Garland, Ex Machina
USE OF MUSIC:
Love & Mercy; Atticus Ross, Composer; Featuring the Music of Brian Wilson
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE:
Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina and The Danish Girl
Top 10 Pictures of 2015 (Alphabetical)
45 Years
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
Sicario
Spotlight
Steve Jobs
Trumbo
-------------
2015 New York Film Critics Online honorees:
FILM:
Spotlight
DIRECTOR:
Tom McCarthy
SCREENPLAY:
Tom McCarthy and Josh Springer - Spotlight
ENSEMBLE CAST:
Spotlight
ACTRESS:
Brie Larson – Room
ACTOR:
Paul Dano - Love & Mercy
SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Rooney Mara – Carol
SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Mark Rylance - Bridge of Spies
CINEMATOGRAPHER:
John Seale, Mad Max: Fury Road
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Son of Saul (Hungary)
DOCUMENTARY:
Amy
ANIMATED FEATURE:
Inside Out
DEBUT AS DIRECTOR:
Alex Garland, Ex Machina
USE OF MUSIC:
Love & Mercy; Atticus Ross, Composer; Featuring the Music of Brian Wilson
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE:
Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina and The Danish Girl
Top 10 Pictures of 2015 (Alphabetical)
45 Years
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
Sicario
Spotlight
Steve Jobs
Trumbo
-------------
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Paul Rudd Discovers His Thoughts on Ant-Man
This Q&A was provided to the press by Disney's public relations and marketing partners.
AN INTERVIEW WITH PAUL RUDD FOR THE HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASE OF MARVEL’S ANT-MAN
The latest evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe introduces the newest member of the Avengers: Marvel’s Ant-Man. Armed with the amazing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang (played by Paul Rudd) joins forces with his new mentor Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit. Full of humor and heart, as well as awesome special effects, this action-packed adventure will shortly be released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD – complete with never-before-seen deleted scenes, making-of featurettes, a gag reel and audio commentary.
To celebrate the exciting in-home release, we talk to actor and screenwriter Paul Rudd – who plays Scott Lang/Ant Man – to discover his thoughts on the daring heist adventure…
Q: What does the home entertainment release of Marvel’s Ant-Man mean to you?
RUDD: When you work on a project like this, you put your heart and soul into it. You work on it for a long time and you’re proud of it, so you certainly want it to be seen. It’s really nice to know that people like the movie enough to want to buy it on DVD and Blu-ray to watch repeatedly at home.
Q: How much do you enjoy the bonus extras that are released with the Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD versions of movies?
RUDD: Whenever there’s a movie that I really love, I always get the Blu-ray to hear the commentary. I want to listen to the voiceover and see deleted scenes because it’s a little bit like taking a film class. I always think it’s really cool to hear directors talk about what they are trying to accomplish with a specific scene. It’s fun to hear their stories, but I find it most interesting when it gets technical. I think you can learn a lot from the extras, and I love the thought of hearing about what was going on while people were shooting a project. It’s like being privy to hearing conversations that you aren’t normally privy to.
Q: Did you work on many Ant-Man scenes that didn’t make it into to the final cut of the movie?
RUDD: There were quite a few scenes that you didn’t see in the [big screen version of the] movie, so you’ll definitely see some of them on the Blu-ray. Working on this script, one of the first things I thought of was: if you steal a suit and then you stumble across what this suit can do – and you’ve just gotten out of jail and you’re a thief – what would you do? There was a whole montage scene that we called ‘the wish-fulfillment sequence’ and I always figured it would be a fun part of the movie. We came up with lots of different scenarios and things that I could do in the suit. We shot a bunch of those, but they didn’t make it to the theatrical version.
Q: Marvel loves to hide Easter eggs and secret references within their movies. Were you thinking about these when you were writing the screenplay?
RUDD: Not really. At that point in the process, you’re just dealing with the story at hand. [Marvel’s Ant-Man co-writer] Adam McKay and I were aware that we were making a heist movie, so you start with the heist structure. It seems like in every heist movie, the thieves do a test run and it never goes well, so we sat with that idea for a while. We had fun coming up with different scenarios. For example, what if Ant-Man wound up fighting somebody that’s not just an average guy? What if it was one of The Avengers? We’d think of things like that for the movie we’re working on, but we never have ideas like, ‘Oh, we could do this now and we can connect the dots three movies later.’
Q: At what stage did you start to think about the stinger scene at the end of the credits, when the Wasp costume is revealed?
RUDD: I never know where those are going, what they are doing, or even if they’ll do one, so sometimes those ideas come around later. However, I always knew that this movie was going to be a good introduction to Wasp. That was in the script, so as we were writing it we were thinking it would be part of the movie. I didn’t know how they were going to separate it from our story; they figure out some of that stuff in post-production.
Q: At what stage did you know that Falcon was going to be part of Marvel’s Ant-Man? Did you consider any other characters from The Avengers for the scene?
RUDD: That was a scene we created when we were writing the screenplay. At first, we were thinking, ‘Oh gosh, Ant-Man should fight an Avenger. How great would it be to see him fight an Avenger? No one would see it coming.’ And then we pitched it to Marvel. We said, “Falcon would be cool. That would be a really interesting fight.” We ran it by Kevin Feige and he agreed.
Q: Many fans were blown away by that scene. How tough was it to keep Falcon’s participation in the storyline secret?
RUDD: It was really, really hard. But to be honest, it’s hard to keep anything secret. There are people on the hunt to find out any kind of information, so you’re always thinking, ‘I hope this doesn’t get out.’ You always hope for the best, but you’re always thinking that something will leak. It’s impossible to keep everything secret.
Q: But that scene was a complete surprise for the audience…
RUDD: Yeah, which was great. Part of the fun of going to see a movie is down to the fact that you want to be surprised. Scenes like that are a thrill for people who are really passionate about the story.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for the terrifying bunny toy in the movie? It’s another scene-stealer!
RUDD: When my son was a baby, he was really into a show called Boohbah, which was a very weird show. It got me thinking that Scott and his daughter should have a connection that only they share. I thought the idea of him giving her a birthday gift of a very weird stuffed animal would be funny, as well as sweet and interesting. And it’s not saccharin. It’s not like he’s giving her a teddy bear or something like that. I wanted it to be an unidentifiable thing, similar to a Boohbah or a Teletubby – but we would make up our own. That’s how I imagined it, but I never wrote it in the screenplay as a terrifying-looking bunny.
Q: Did you have much input into the look of the bunny?
RUDD: When we were getting ready to shoot the movie, they brought it out and showed it to me – and I was actually bummed out about it. I told them it wasn’t what I wanted; that it’s not cool for a father to give his daughter something this terrifying. Plus, it was so tiny. I know he has no money, but it was going against what I imagined in my mind. To the credit of Peyton Reed – and this is why he’s the director of the movie – he said he thought it was good, and that it was what we wanted to go with. He had OK’d it, as had [President of Marvel Studios] Kevin Feige, who knows what’s up – and they were right. But it was something that was always a sticking point with me. I’m like, “I don’t want to give her a terrifying-looking rabbit!”
Q: Did the bunny have a name in your script?
RUDD: No, it wasn’t even a bunny in the script. You know what it was? I think I put down as a cat.
Q: Which scene in the movie is your proudest achievement?
RUDD: When Falcon swoops in; that was cool. Even when we were shooting it, or even when we were writing it, we were thinking, ‘Oh, wow… The hairs on my neck are standing up because this could be such a cool movie moment. Does this mean that the other Avengers will now know about his existence?’ It was fun to think about that kind of stuff.
Q: It’s been revealed that Ant-Man appears in Captain America: Civil War. What’s it like to work with Captain America actor Chris Evans?
RUDD: It’s been really great fun, and it’s also made this whole experience seem much more real in a way. Well, I always knew it was real and I certainly felt like I was part of the Marvel family with Ant-Man – but to stand around and see Captain America, and to see Iron Man, and to know that I’m in scenes with them was just mind-bending. It was really cool.
Q: Do you get nervous before scenes with such an esteemed group of actors?
RUDD: I get nervous because I’m walking into a pretty well-established group that a lot of people know and love. To be the new kid at school was always a bit of a nerve-racking experience, but it was more exciting than anything else. It’s been great.
ENDS
----------------------
AN INTERVIEW WITH PAUL RUDD FOR THE HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASE OF MARVEL’S ANT-MAN
The latest evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe introduces the newest member of the Avengers: Marvel’s Ant-Man. Armed with the amazing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang (played by Paul Rudd) joins forces with his new mentor Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit. Full of humor and heart, as well as awesome special effects, this action-packed adventure will shortly be released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD – complete with never-before-seen deleted scenes, making-of featurettes, a gag reel and audio commentary.
To celebrate the exciting in-home release, we talk to actor and screenwriter Paul Rudd – who plays Scott Lang/Ant Man – to discover his thoughts on the daring heist adventure…
Q: What does the home entertainment release of Marvel’s Ant-Man mean to you?
RUDD: When you work on a project like this, you put your heart and soul into it. You work on it for a long time and you’re proud of it, so you certainly want it to be seen. It’s really nice to know that people like the movie enough to want to buy it on DVD and Blu-ray to watch repeatedly at home.
Q: How much do you enjoy the bonus extras that are released with the Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD versions of movies?
RUDD: Whenever there’s a movie that I really love, I always get the Blu-ray to hear the commentary. I want to listen to the voiceover and see deleted scenes because it’s a little bit like taking a film class. I always think it’s really cool to hear directors talk about what they are trying to accomplish with a specific scene. It’s fun to hear their stories, but I find it most interesting when it gets technical. I think you can learn a lot from the extras, and I love the thought of hearing about what was going on while people were shooting a project. It’s like being privy to hearing conversations that you aren’t normally privy to.
Q: Did you work on many Ant-Man scenes that didn’t make it into to the final cut of the movie?
RUDD: There were quite a few scenes that you didn’t see in the [big screen version of the] movie, so you’ll definitely see some of them on the Blu-ray. Working on this script, one of the first things I thought of was: if you steal a suit and then you stumble across what this suit can do – and you’ve just gotten out of jail and you’re a thief – what would you do? There was a whole montage scene that we called ‘the wish-fulfillment sequence’ and I always figured it would be a fun part of the movie. We came up with lots of different scenarios and things that I could do in the suit. We shot a bunch of those, but they didn’t make it to the theatrical version.
Q: Marvel loves to hide Easter eggs and secret references within their movies. Were you thinking about these when you were writing the screenplay?
RUDD: Not really. At that point in the process, you’re just dealing with the story at hand. [Marvel’s Ant-Man co-writer] Adam McKay and I were aware that we were making a heist movie, so you start with the heist structure. It seems like in every heist movie, the thieves do a test run and it never goes well, so we sat with that idea for a while. We had fun coming up with different scenarios. For example, what if Ant-Man wound up fighting somebody that’s not just an average guy? What if it was one of The Avengers? We’d think of things like that for the movie we’re working on, but we never have ideas like, ‘Oh, we could do this now and we can connect the dots three movies later.’
Q: At what stage did you start to think about the stinger scene at the end of the credits, when the Wasp costume is revealed?
RUDD: I never know where those are going, what they are doing, or even if they’ll do one, so sometimes those ideas come around later. However, I always knew that this movie was going to be a good introduction to Wasp. That was in the script, so as we were writing it we were thinking it would be part of the movie. I didn’t know how they were going to separate it from our story; they figure out some of that stuff in post-production.
Q: At what stage did you know that Falcon was going to be part of Marvel’s Ant-Man? Did you consider any other characters from The Avengers for the scene?
RUDD: That was a scene we created when we were writing the screenplay. At first, we were thinking, ‘Oh gosh, Ant-Man should fight an Avenger. How great would it be to see him fight an Avenger? No one would see it coming.’ And then we pitched it to Marvel. We said, “Falcon would be cool. That would be a really interesting fight.” We ran it by Kevin Feige and he agreed.
Q: Many fans were blown away by that scene. How tough was it to keep Falcon’s participation in the storyline secret?
RUDD: It was really, really hard. But to be honest, it’s hard to keep anything secret. There are people on the hunt to find out any kind of information, so you’re always thinking, ‘I hope this doesn’t get out.’ You always hope for the best, but you’re always thinking that something will leak. It’s impossible to keep everything secret.
Q: But that scene was a complete surprise for the audience…
RUDD: Yeah, which was great. Part of the fun of going to see a movie is down to the fact that you want to be surprised. Scenes like that are a thrill for people who are really passionate about the story.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for the terrifying bunny toy in the movie? It’s another scene-stealer!
RUDD: When my son was a baby, he was really into a show called Boohbah, which was a very weird show. It got me thinking that Scott and his daughter should have a connection that only they share. I thought the idea of him giving her a birthday gift of a very weird stuffed animal would be funny, as well as sweet and interesting. And it’s not saccharin. It’s not like he’s giving her a teddy bear or something like that. I wanted it to be an unidentifiable thing, similar to a Boohbah or a Teletubby – but we would make up our own. That’s how I imagined it, but I never wrote it in the screenplay as a terrifying-looking bunny.
Q: Did you have much input into the look of the bunny?
RUDD: When we were getting ready to shoot the movie, they brought it out and showed it to me – and I was actually bummed out about it. I told them it wasn’t what I wanted; that it’s not cool for a father to give his daughter something this terrifying. Plus, it was so tiny. I know he has no money, but it was going against what I imagined in my mind. To the credit of Peyton Reed – and this is why he’s the director of the movie – he said he thought it was good, and that it was what we wanted to go with. He had OK’d it, as had [President of Marvel Studios] Kevin Feige, who knows what’s up – and they were right. But it was something that was always a sticking point with me. I’m like, “I don’t want to give her a terrifying-looking rabbit!”
Q: Did the bunny have a name in your script?
RUDD: No, it wasn’t even a bunny in the script. You know what it was? I think I put down as a cat.
Q: Which scene in the movie is your proudest achievement?
RUDD: When Falcon swoops in; that was cool. Even when we were shooting it, or even when we were writing it, we were thinking, ‘Oh, wow… The hairs on my neck are standing up because this could be such a cool movie moment. Does this mean that the other Avengers will now know about his existence?’ It was fun to think about that kind of stuff.
Q: It’s been revealed that Ant-Man appears in Captain America: Civil War. What’s it like to work with Captain America actor Chris Evans?
RUDD: It’s been really great fun, and it’s also made this whole experience seem much more real in a way. Well, I always knew it was real and I certainly felt like I was part of the Marvel family with Ant-Man – but to stand around and see Captain America, and to see Iron Man, and to know that I’m in scenes with them was just mind-bending. It was really cool.
Q: Do you get nervous before scenes with such an esteemed group of actors?
RUDD: I get nervous because I’m walking into a pretty well-established group that a lot of people know and love. To be the new kid at school was always a bit of a nerve-racking experience, but it was more exciting than anything else. It’s been great.
ENDS
----------------------
Review: "Marvel's Ant-Man" is a Tiny Marvel
[A version of this review first appeared on Patreon.]
Ant-Man (2015)
Running time: 117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sci-fi action violence
DIRECTOR: Peyton Reed
WRITERS: Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish & Adam McKay and Paul Rudd; from a story by Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish (based on the comic book created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby)
PRODUCER: Kevin Feige
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Russell Parker
EDITORS: Dan Lebental and Colby Parker, Jr.
COMPOSER: Christophe Beck
SUPERHERO/SCI-FI and ACTION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY
Starring: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Abby Ryder Fortson, Michael Pena, David Dastmalchian, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Hayley Atwell, John Slattery, Martin Donovan, Garrett Morris, Anthony Mackie, and Stan Lee
Ant-Man is a 2015 superhero film and sci-fi action-comedy film directed by Peyton Reed and produced by Marvel Studios. The film focuses on the Marvel Comics character, Ant-Man, who first appeared in Tales to Astonish #27 (cover date: September 1962) and was created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby. Ant-Man the movie focuses on an ex-con who is given a super-suit that shrinks the wearer to microscopic size while increasing the wearer's strength, so that he can use it to pull off a heist that will save the world.
Ant-Man opens in the year 1989. Scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) discovers that his colleagues at S.H.I.E.L.D. are attempting to duplicate his shrinking technology, which he calls the “Pym particle,” so he quits. Pym once used that shrinking tech to power his “Ant-Man” suit. In the present day, the now-retired Pym discovers that his protégé at Pym Technologies, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), is also trying to duplicate the “Pym particle.” In fact, Cross is very close to doing so and has even built his own shrinking suit, which he calls “Yellowjacket.”
Pym and his estranged daughter, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), believe that the only way to stop Cross is to steal the “Yellowjacket” suit and all of Cross' data and research. To do that, they will have to break into the heavily-secured Pym Technologies building, and that means someone will have to wear the Ant-Man suit. Is down-on-his-luck ex-con and master thief, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), the perfect person to be the new Ant-Man?
As Marvel's superheroes go, Ant-Man is D-list, as far as familiarity with the public is concerned. To bring him to the big screen, Marvel needed the right actor. Paul Rudd is the right actor; he is irresistibly likable. I have been a fan of his since I first saw him in Clueless about two decades ago. His affable charm sells the idea of Scott Lang as a well-meaning criminal with a just cause. If you find Ant-Man to be a silly concept, Rudd makes it all seem less so. Everything about him says just-right.
Meanwhile, the rest of the cast is pretty good. Corey Stall, who has been giving dramatic heft to FX's summer vampire television series, “The Strain,” since 2014, is Marvel's best villain-of-the-first-movie since Jeff Bridges menaced the first Iron Man film. Michael Peña as Luis, Scott's friend, is good, although the character sometimes seems a bit like an out-of-place oddity. Evangeline Lilly is lost in make-up as Hope van Dyne, who is also an oddity in this film.
I guess “odd” is the theme for Ant-Man the movie. I can't believe how much I like this movie. I saw Ant-Man at an early matinee on a Friday afternoon. There were a few children in the audience, and they loved the movie, often squealing with delight. I was dignified enough to force my squeals into hearty laughs.
Of all the Marvel Studios films, Ant-Man is the one that most effectively uses the avalanche of CGI and special effects we have come to expect of modern summer blockbusters, fantasy films, and superhero movies. I would dare say that just about every use of computer-generated imagery and effects in Ant-Man is in context, serving the narrative. Ant-Man is like The Matrix (at least the first one) in that all of the movie and computer magic is justified. I want a sequel, so I'm asking the rest of the world to join me in loving ants and Ant-Man as you never thought you could or would.
8 of 10
A
Sunday, July 19, 2015
The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint syndication rights and fees.
Michael Douglas Shares His Thoughts on "Marvel's Ant-Man"
This Q&A was provided to the press by Disney's public relations and marketing partners.
AN INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL DOUGLAS FOR THE HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASE OF MARVEL’S ANT-MAN
The latest evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe introduces the newest member of the Avengers: Marvel’s Ant-Man. Armed with the amazing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang (played by Paul Rudd) joins forces with his new mentor Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit. Full of humor and heart, as well as awesome special effects, this action-packed adventure will shortly be released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD – complete with never-before-seen deleted scenes, making-of featurettes, a gag reel and audio commentary.
To celebrate the exciting in-home release, we talk to acclaimed actor Michael Douglas – who plays Dr. Hank Pym in Marvel’s Ant-Man – to discover his thoughts on the daring heist adventure…
Q: Marvel’s Ant-Man has been praised as one of the funniest movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Did the humor attract you to the superhero project?
DOUGLAS: The humor was definitely appealing, but I was more interested in the idea of being in an effects movie. I was also really interested in being in a studio tent-pole film after a few years of being more involved with indie pictures. I’m certainly overwhelmed by the success that Marvel has had and how well they do these movies. It’s been a joy to watch and study how they mold a picture together.
Q: Is this your first superhero movie?
DOUGLAS: I’ve never done an effects movie before, so this is my first. I was very envious of Jack Nicholson when he played the Joker and Danny DeVito when he played the Penguin. I remember them telling me how much fun it was, so I was very excited to add at least one of these super-action superhero pictures to my résumé.
Q: With the impending home entertainment release of Marvel’s Ant-Man, how does it feel to know that audiences will soon be able to watch the movie in the comfort of their own home?
DOUGLAS: Historically, the movies that you buy are the movies that you cherish the most, so I think it’s great. When I think back to the first picture I produced, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest; when we put that out in the Blu-ray format, viewers got lots of background information and things that weren’t in the movie. They got a lot of behind-the-scenes information. It’s a joy for people that are real fans to see what was going on when we were making the movie.
Q: Do you have a large Blu-ray collection at home?
DOUGLAS: I’ve got a pretty good Blu-ray collection, but my problem is that I rarely have time to look at it. I don’t know how people find the time. It’s the same thing with people who watch box sets and they go right through three years of a series. I have no idea how people have the time!
Q: Have you got a state-of-the-art home entertainment system set-up at home?
DOUGLAS: I’ve got one of those new curve screens and it’s quite stunning. The sound quality is amazing, too. You know what? I haven’t explained this to my kids – but when I first started in The Streets Of San Francisco, there were only two networks that existed: CBS and NBC; ABC was the upcoming version. It really makes you think about how much time has passed because I’m talking about black and white television here. That’s unheard of now. Television and movies have come along an amazingly long way.
Q: What do your children think of your role in Marvel’s Ant-Man? Were they excited to see their father in a superhero blockbuster?
DOUGLAS: This movie gives me a new credibility with my son and his buddies, which is great. Up until now, most of my career has been R-rated, so neither my kids nor any of their friends have seen a whole lot of what I’ve done. My 14-year-old’s reaction was like an agent. He said, “You know what, Dad? This could be a whole new audience for you.” I took that to heart and here I am.
Q: There’s a fatherhood theme that runs through Marvel’s Ant-Man. How does that add to the movie’s appeal?
DOUGLAS: I thought it gave the movie a lot of heart. It’s certainly been an issue that was touched on with Iron Man to some degree, but I don’t think to the level that it is in Ant-Man. I think the complexities of my relationship with my daughter, Hope, and the parallel relationships that Scott Lang [played by Paul Rudd] has with his family are very interesting. I think it grounds the picture and gives it an emotional level that is viable. It’s an asset.
Q: What do you think of Paul Rudd’s performance as Ant-Man?
DOUGLAS: Paul Rudd is great. He brings an everyman quality to the superhero. He’s got a great self-deprecating sense of humor and he worked his way into unbelievable shape for the role. He doesn’t try to play it smart; he just has an everyman quality about him, which I think is very, very appealing. When you watch him, as the character rises to the qualities of being a superhero, you really end up rooting for him.
Q: How much of a Marvel fan are you?
DOUGLAS: I love to go and watch Marvel movies with my kids. I’ve caught a fair share of the Marvel films and I always look forward to them – but I also enjoy the home entertainment editions. As a member of the Academy, we get DVDs of a lot of the pictures at the end of the year, so my wife Catherine [Zeta-Jones] and I spend a lot of time catching up on films at our home.
Q: How much research did you undertake into the history of Ant-Man and Dr. Hank Pym when you signed on to the movie?
DOUGLAS: I was not familiar with Ant-Man before this movie – but Marvel were kind enough to send me about two years’ worth of comic books, so I could catch up on his history and background. I’ve read a lot of them. I’ve thumbed through and read most of the stuff that pertained to Hank to help me understand him a little more.
Q: In the comics, Dr. Hank Pym is a damaged man with an unfortunate history. How much of his past was on your mind when you portrayed the character on set?
DOUGLAS: They gave me more background to my character than most movies I’ve done, so I could understand about the loss of his wife and the alienation with his daughter. I found it very helpful. I think there are echoes of the loss of his wife and elements that highlight the distance between Hank and his daughter, who is played by Evangeline Lilly. I don’t think we wanted to dwell on it, but it pays off a little later in the picture.
Q: Marvel likes to hide lots of Easter eggs and secret references in their movies. Were you aware of them when you were shooting the film?
DOUGLAS: I became aware as they explained them to me. I was a babe in the woods, so what can I say? I love the curiosity and the zealousness in which a lot of the audiences follow these pieces. But I was aware, of course, of the Wasp at the end of the movie and its significance.
Q: Was the Wasp reveal always planned to be a stinger scene with the end credits?
DOUGLAS: It was a little scene that they added halfway through the picture. Maybe they were going to have it all along – but they start on a broad canvas and then they narrow it down in terms of the relationships that are working. It goes from there really.
Q: The opening sequence of the movie is a flashback scene with Hayley Atwell’s character, Peggy Carter. Did you understand the relevance of that scene when you were shooting it?
DOUGLAS: They explained it to me. They explained why a young, attractive woman on a television series was now playing an older woman – and why I was playing my character 30 years younger than he is for the rest of the movie. She and I did not have a chance to talk too much. She was in the middle of her series [Agent Carter], so she just came down for that one quick scene.
Q: What do you think of the scene?
DOUGLAS: When I went into record some extra dialogue after the movie was shot, that scene was half finished, so one half of me had little spots all over my face – and I was wearing the wig with all that hair – and the other half had been completed. Through the magic of computer graphics, I looked 30 years younger. I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s like looking at yourself 30 years ago. There’s no need to do remakes anymore. I’ll just remake some of my movies with myself playing the part!
Q: How did they shoot the scene?
DOUGLAS: I had little spots, or little dots, everywhere. They used the dots for reference to measure or change things or whatever they do – and once completed, you see this little baby-faced guy. It was great. I thought it was fantastic.
--------------------
AN INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL DOUGLAS FOR THE HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASE OF MARVEL’S ANT-MAN
The latest evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe introduces the newest member of the Avengers: Marvel’s Ant-Man. Armed with the amazing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang (played by Paul Rudd) joins forces with his new mentor Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit. Full of humor and heart, as well as awesome special effects, this action-packed adventure will shortly be released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD – complete with never-before-seen deleted scenes, making-of featurettes, a gag reel and audio commentary.
To celebrate the exciting in-home release, we talk to acclaimed actor Michael Douglas – who plays Dr. Hank Pym in Marvel’s Ant-Man – to discover his thoughts on the daring heist adventure…
Q: Marvel’s Ant-Man has been praised as one of the funniest movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Did the humor attract you to the superhero project?
DOUGLAS: The humor was definitely appealing, but I was more interested in the idea of being in an effects movie. I was also really interested in being in a studio tent-pole film after a few years of being more involved with indie pictures. I’m certainly overwhelmed by the success that Marvel has had and how well they do these movies. It’s been a joy to watch and study how they mold a picture together.
Q: Is this your first superhero movie?
DOUGLAS: I’ve never done an effects movie before, so this is my first. I was very envious of Jack Nicholson when he played the Joker and Danny DeVito when he played the Penguin. I remember them telling me how much fun it was, so I was very excited to add at least one of these super-action superhero pictures to my résumé.
Q: With the impending home entertainment release of Marvel’s Ant-Man, how does it feel to know that audiences will soon be able to watch the movie in the comfort of their own home?
DOUGLAS: Historically, the movies that you buy are the movies that you cherish the most, so I think it’s great. When I think back to the first picture I produced, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest; when we put that out in the Blu-ray format, viewers got lots of background information and things that weren’t in the movie. They got a lot of behind-the-scenes information. It’s a joy for people that are real fans to see what was going on when we were making the movie.
Q: Do you have a large Blu-ray collection at home?
DOUGLAS: I’ve got a pretty good Blu-ray collection, but my problem is that I rarely have time to look at it. I don’t know how people find the time. It’s the same thing with people who watch box sets and they go right through three years of a series. I have no idea how people have the time!
Q: Have you got a state-of-the-art home entertainment system set-up at home?
DOUGLAS: I’ve got one of those new curve screens and it’s quite stunning. The sound quality is amazing, too. You know what? I haven’t explained this to my kids – but when I first started in The Streets Of San Francisco, there were only two networks that existed: CBS and NBC; ABC was the upcoming version. It really makes you think about how much time has passed because I’m talking about black and white television here. That’s unheard of now. Television and movies have come along an amazingly long way.
Q: What do your children think of your role in Marvel’s Ant-Man? Were they excited to see their father in a superhero blockbuster?
DOUGLAS: This movie gives me a new credibility with my son and his buddies, which is great. Up until now, most of my career has been R-rated, so neither my kids nor any of their friends have seen a whole lot of what I’ve done. My 14-year-old’s reaction was like an agent. He said, “You know what, Dad? This could be a whole new audience for you.” I took that to heart and here I am.
Q: There’s a fatherhood theme that runs through Marvel’s Ant-Man. How does that add to the movie’s appeal?
DOUGLAS: I thought it gave the movie a lot of heart. It’s certainly been an issue that was touched on with Iron Man to some degree, but I don’t think to the level that it is in Ant-Man. I think the complexities of my relationship with my daughter, Hope, and the parallel relationships that Scott Lang [played by Paul Rudd] has with his family are very interesting. I think it grounds the picture and gives it an emotional level that is viable. It’s an asset.
Q: What do you think of Paul Rudd’s performance as Ant-Man?
DOUGLAS: Paul Rudd is great. He brings an everyman quality to the superhero. He’s got a great self-deprecating sense of humor and he worked his way into unbelievable shape for the role. He doesn’t try to play it smart; he just has an everyman quality about him, which I think is very, very appealing. When you watch him, as the character rises to the qualities of being a superhero, you really end up rooting for him.
Q: How much of a Marvel fan are you?
DOUGLAS: I love to go and watch Marvel movies with my kids. I’ve caught a fair share of the Marvel films and I always look forward to them – but I also enjoy the home entertainment editions. As a member of the Academy, we get DVDs of a lot of the pictures at the end of the year, so my wife Catherine [Zeta-Jones] and I spend a lot of time catching up on films at our home.
Q: How much research did you undertake into the history of Ant-Man and Dr. Hank Pym when you signed on to the movie?
DOUGLAS: I was not familiar with Ant-Man before this movie – but Marvel were kind enough to send me about two years’ worth of comic books, so I could catch up on his history and background. I’ve read a lot of them. I’ve thumbed through and read most of the stuff that pertained to Hank to help me understand him a little more.
Q: In the comics, Dr. Hank Pym is a damaged man with an unfortunate history. How much of his past was on your mind when you portrayed the character on set?
DOUGLAS: They gave me more background to my character than most movies I’ve done, so I could understand about the loss of his wife and the alienation with his daughter. I found it very helpful. I think there are echoes of the loss of his wife and elements that highlight the distance between Hank and his daughter, who is played by Evangeline Lilly. I don’t think we wanted to dwell on it, but it pays off a little later in the picture.
Q: Marvel likes to hide lots of Easter eggs and secret references in their movies. Were you aware of them when you were shooting the film?
DOUGLAS: I became aware as they explained them to me. I was a babe in the woods, so what can I say? I love the curiosity and the zealousness in which a lot of the audiences follow these pieces. But I was aware, of course, of the Wasp at the end of the movie and its significance.
Q: Was the Wasp reveal always planned to be a stinger scene with the end credits?
DOUGLAS: It was a little scene that they added halfway through the picture. Maybe they were going to have it all along – but they start on a broad canvas and then they narrow it down in terms of the relationships that are working. It goes from there really.
Q: The opening sequence of the movie is a flashback scene with Hayley Atwell’s character, Peggy Carter. Did you understand the relevance of that scene when you were shooting it?
DOUGLAS: They explained it to me. They explained why a young, attractive woman on a television series was now playing an older woman – and why I was playing my character 30 years younger than he is for the rest of the movie. She and I did not have a chance to talk too much. She was in the middle of her series [Agent Carter], so she just came down for that one quick scene.
Q: What do you think of the scene?
DOUGLAS: When I went into record some extra dialogue after the movie was shot, that scene was half finished, so one half of me had little spots all over my face – and I was wearing the wig with all that hair – and the other half had been completed. Through the magic of computer graphics, I looked 30 years younger. I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s like looking at yourself 30 years ago. There’s no need to do remakes anymore. I’ll just remake some of my movies with myself playing the part!
Q: How did they shoot the scene?
DOUGLAS: I had little spots, or little dots, everywhere. They used the dots for reference to measure or change things or whatever they do – and once completed, you see this little baby-faced guy. It was great. I thought it was fantastic.
--------------------
Margaret Atwood Has a Graphic Novel Coming from Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics announced today the publication of Angel Catbird, the first graphic novel by Margaret Atwood, the Booker Award–winning author of The Blind Assassin, The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Heart Goes Last. Angel Catbird is a unique and ambitious collaboration between Atwood and artist Johnnie Christmas (Sheltered) that tells the story of an unusual superhero over the course of three all-ages graphic novels, the first of which will be published by Dark Horse Comics in the fall of 2016. The project is being published in tandem with Keep Cats Safe and Save Bird Lives, an initiative led by Nature Canada, the oldest conservation charity in the country.
“I have concocted a superhero who is part cat, part bird. Due to some spilled genetic Super-Splicer, our hero got tangled up with both a cat and an owl; hence his fur and feathers, and his identity problems,” said Atwood.
“Margaret Atwood has created a bold and unforgettable new character, paying homage to both classic pulp heroes and traditional comic book origin stories,” said Mike Richardson, Dark Horse’s publisher and president. “We’re proud to bring Margaret’s Angel Catbird here to Dark Horse, since it is exactly the kind of creator-owned graphic novel we are committed to publishing."
“What should you expect from Angel Catbird? Imagine, if you will, a strange mix of Will Eisner’s The Spirit, Grant Morrison and Chas Truog’s Animal Man, and Ryan North and Erica Henderson’s Squirrel Girl,” said acquiring editor Daniel Chabon. “Angel Catbird is a humorous, action-driven, pulp-inspired story. And the only other thing I can tell you at this early date is to expect a lot of cat puns.”
“I wanted to find an artist whose style Margaret liked, and who I felt comfortable working with and who shared the vision for the project,” said consulting editor Hope Nicholson (The Secret Loves of Geek Girls), who brought Angel Catbird to Dark Horse. “Johnnie Christmas is, by all accounts, a perfect fit.”
“It’s tremendously exciting to work with one of the great contemporary novelists,” said Johnnie Christmas. “I can’t wait for readers to experience the world of Angel Catbird that we’re building. It’s got warmth, heart, humor, and lots of action.”
Angel Catbird will be a three-volume series of 6 x 9–inch full-color trade paperbacks priced at $10.99 each. More information about the Angel Catbird graphic novels and Nature Canada’s campaign will be released in 2016.
About Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa, and grew up in northern Ontario and Quebec, and in Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master’s degree from Radcliffe College.
Margaret Atwood is the author of more than forty volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and non-fiction, but is best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman (1969), The Handmaid’s Tale
(1985), The Robber Bride (1994), Alias Grace (1996), and The Blind Assassin
, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000. MaddAddam (2013),is the final volume in a three-book series that began with the Man-Booker prize-nominated Oryx and Crake (2003) and continued with The Year of the Flood (2009); the series is currently being adapted for HBO by Darren Aronofsky. The Tent (mini-fictions) and Moral Disorder (short fiction) both appeared in 2006. Her most recent volume of poetry, The Door, was published in 2007. In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination, a collection of non-fiction essays appeared in 2011. Her non-fiction book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth was adapted for the screen in 2012. Her latest works are a book of short stories called Stone Mattress: Nine Tales (2014), and a novel, The Heart Goes Last (2015). Ms. Atwood’s work has been published in more than forty languages, including Farsi, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic and Estonian.About Johnnie Christmas
Johnnie Christmas is the co-creator of the critically acclaimed Image Comics series SHELTERED
, which has gone on to translation in multiple languages. He is the creator, writer and artist of FIREBUG, serialized in ISLAND Magazine; as well as co-creator of the sci-fi series PISCES. A graduate of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, Johnnie makes Vancouver, BC his home.About Dark Horse Comics
Founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson, Dark Horse Comics has proven to be a solid example of how integrity and innovation can help broaden a unique storytelling medium and establish a small, homegrown company as an industry giant. The company is known for the progressive and creator-friendly atmosphere it provides for writers and artists. In addition to publishing comics from top talent, such as Eric Powell, Mike Mignola, Geof Darrow, Brian Wood, Gail Simone, Stan Sakai, and Guillermo del Toro, and comics legends, such as Will Eisner, Milo Manara, Kazuo Koike, Neil Gaiman, and Frank Miller, Dark Horse has developed its own successful properties, such as The Mask, Ghost, X, and Barb Wire. Its successful line of comics, manga, and products based on popular properties includes Dragon Age, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Aliens, Conan, Tomb Raider, Halo, The Witcher, Serenity, Game of Thrones, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Today Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent comic book publisher in the US and is recognized as one of the world’s leading entertainment publishers.
About Nature Canada
Nature Canada is the oldest national nature conservation charity in Canada. Over the past 75 years, Nature Canada has helped protect over 63 million acres of parks and wildlife areas in Canada and countless species that depend on this habitat. Today, Nature Canada has over 45,000 members and supporters and is the national Voice for Nature in a nature network of more than 350 nature organizations across Canada. See more at: http://naturecanada.ca.
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