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It’s not every day that you get to have a chat with Hollywood icons like Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas.
The actors both had legendary careers before finding new homes as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe through their roles in the Ant-Man films. Now they are returning to guide the pack in this week’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania , out Friday, Feb. 17.
Douglas stars in the movies as Doctor Henry “Hank” Pym, who was the first Ant-Man and the inventor responsible for creating the Pym particles that he uses to shrink people (and things) to the size of an ant and helped prepare Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) to take over as the tiny superhero. Pfeiffer previously appeared in 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp as his wife, Janet van Dyne. She spent most of the film trapped in the Quantum Realm, where she was stuck and separated from her husband and daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) for 30 years.
Quantumania will take fans (and her family) on a journey to discover the Quantum Realm and together, they have to face Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). Complex caught up with the Oscar-winning actor and the actress to briefly chat about their presence in the film, learning about Janet’s past, and bringing in Jonathan Majors into the Ant-Man cast. Read the interview below.
The Ant-Man movies all have a sense of family, with Scott’s love for Cassie and Hank’s love for his wife and for Hope. Now we see them all come together to fight this new threat. What has it been like for you, Michael, to see this progression of the family as the movies have gone on?
MD: Well, it was enjoyable. I mean, it seems like a lovely transition. The unique quality about these is that we, as actors, do not see the scripts once we sign on for the first one, but now the story goes on and then we show up for work. And then we sort of realize this is how this is all kind of going together.
And so it is a loving transition with Kathryn [Newton] now brought in in terms of Cassie, our third generation. It’s a nice feeling. And I think a lot of people enjoy seeing a family working together. A lot of families have separate jobs and all this. We all seem to be in the same-
Same field.
MD: Same field. Ants, we like ants.
Both of your characters are the great love story of the movie, aside from Hope and Scott. Michael, your character got to find out what his wife has been up to in the 30 years she was away.
MD: Boy, does he ever. [Laughs.] Yeah.
What was that like for you to explore that in the film together?
MD: Well, I was not aware of it thinking about it so much until Bill Murray entered it, and it became very clear and prevalent, like, “Oh, OK.” And yeah, it was nice to see a family-orientated movie like this, recognizing that there are some issues that people are going to be talking about in the back of their minds unless you address them to some degree, which is that people have needs.
Right. And the way he handled it was perfect. It was like, “OK, it happened. She was away for 30 years and she’s human. What can we do?”
MP: Yeah.
Ushering new characters into the Marvel films seems to be so exciting. And now with Quantumania, we have Kang and you’re the ones that are bringing him into this universe. What was that like, especially for you Michelle, who had those beautiful one-on-one scenes with Jonathan Majors?
MP: Well, as an actor working with him, it was really exceptional. And I didn’t really… I mean, I think what he brought, of course, he had a great part that was written for him, but what he brought to it wasn’t necessarily on the page and it was so—It just sort of drew me in.
And also, I have to say that you don’t typically find moments in these types of movies where the movie allows you or the director allows you to have these intimate, quieter [moments]. And we had a lot of them. There were more, but we have a lot, and I have to give Peyton [Reed] credit for having the courage to do that in this type of film. But I really, really enjoyed working with him.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters Friday, Feb. 17.