The Funny or Die co-founder will take over the project after sudden departure of Edgar Wright
Update: Multiple industry sources appeared to confirm overnight that McKay has accepted the job and filming is expected to proceed on schedule.
Original Story: Despite the surprise eleventh hour departure of longtime helmer Edgar Wright putting the production of Marvel Studios' Ant-Man movie in jeopardy, the producers are still determined to have the film in theaters for its scheduled July 17th 2015 release.
That means finding a new director to bring the mostly-completed pre-production (the film was already cast, storyboarded and planned out with many major action scenes pre-visualized) left behind by Wright into line with the still unknown script changes Disney is reported to have asked for. Now, Aint-It-Cool-News' reliable scoop-hunter Jeremy Smith reports that Marvel may have found their man: Adam McKay, the comedy specialist behind blockbusters like Anchorman, Talladega Nights and The Other Guys plus the co-founder (with Will Ferrell) of Funny or Die.
While no one has gone on record about exactly what it was about Wright's take on the final vision of the film (which he'd been working with Marvel on for eight years between other projects) that couldn't be reconciled with Disney, speculation had run rampant that his offbeat action-comedy sensibilities weren't going to fit in with an emerging Marvel Universe "house style." But McKay is cut from much the same cloth - a comedy writer/director who sense of humor trends toward surreal absurdity and politically-loaded edge. He's also no "hired gun," since his films almost always make bank. One thing he does bring to the production (and may well have tipped the scales in his favor): A close personal and professional friendship with star Paul Rudd.
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