Nathan Fillion Felt Paul Rudd Made Him Look Like a Man-Child in ‘Ant-Man’
When Paul Rudd debuted as Ant-Man, he quickly made the pint-sized hero one of the most popular characters in Marvel. His take on the character even impressed Nathan Fillion, who didn’t have the highest opinion on Ant-Man at first.
What Nathan Fillion thought of Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man
Fillion considered himself a fan of superhero films, and starred in his own fair share of crime-fighting flicks. He was known for voicing Green Lantern on a couple of animated DC projects. He also had a role in the James Gunn original superhero movie Super.
In a resurfaced interview with the Advocate, while expressing his own desire to play superhero films, Fillion discussed his love of Marvel films. He was particularly surprised by the Marvel film Ant-Man, with Rudd playing the titular character. Fillion thought Rudd helped make a character he considered silly at first look quite endearing.
“I think all the really great heroes have been taken. And they’ve really done some wonderful jobs with goofy heroes. When Ant-Man came out I thought, ‘This is really a lower-rung hero for comics.‘ That movie was spectacular. Boy, Paul Rudd? I like to think I’m a charming guy. That Paul Rudd makes me look like an idiot manchild, he’s so charming. It’s so neat to watch him,” he said.
During the interview, Fillion shared that he didn’t always have to play the hero in comic book properties.
“But I would certainly think that for every superhero out there, there’s gotta be at least 50 villains. I think I’d like to take a crack. All the heroes are out there. Give me a villain,” he said.
Fillion would much later briefly play the villain T.D.K. in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad.
How Nathan Fillion first responded to the idea of playing Ant-Man
Although Fillion once starred as a hero in a couple of animated projects, he never did so in live action. Before Rudd was cast, Fillion was rumored to be in the running for the character. A lot of the rumors stemmed from Joss Whedon being the director of The Avengers movies. Whedon and Fillion had a close business relationship, as the two worked together on the cult hit show Firefly. But in a 2010 interview with Comic Book Movie, Fillion revealed there was no truth to the rumors.
“You know what, the internet is a vast wealth of information, 90% of it false,” he said. “I’m working ten months out of the year doing a television program where I don’t get a lot of opportunities to sneak out after work and do other projects, so I’m kind of locked in. If you just look at the logistics of it, I’m really busy. Even if all of the stars were to align, I wouldn’t have time to do it.”
But before Rudd’s take on the character, Ant-Man was one superhero Fillion wouldn’t have been interested in regardless.
“Yeah, if I had my choice, I would probably not pick Ant-Man. Nothing against Mr. Pym. But, no, I would not pick Ant-Man. He would not be my choice,” he said.
How Paul Rudd felt about being cast as ‘Ant-Man’?
It seemed that Rudd was being looked at for Ant-Man for quite some time. In an interview with Men’s Health, Rudd reflected on his almost decade-long run as the character. He was offered the part pretty early on, and couldn’t believe he was being considered for a superhero property.
“My agent set up a meeting with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Marvel was pretty new. They weren’t even part of Disney. It would’ve been like somebody saying, ‘How would you feel about doing Dancing with the Stars?’ A superhero franchise was never on my radar. I never really thought I was the type of actor that they would offer any of those parts to,” Rudd said.
Afterwards, the deal closed pretty quickly. And Rudd anticipated that most people would be caught off guard by the news. Especially with Rudd being known as mostly a comedic actor.
“I knew that if it was announced that I was going to be joining a superhero franchise, most people would say, ‘What the f***?’ And I got to wear a superhero suit,” he said.
