Paul Rudd looks back on how he got into the MCU and the Ant-Man star said starring in a superhero movie wasn’t part of his plans.
“My agent arranged a meeting with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. Marvel was pretty new. They weren’t even part of Disney. It would have been like someone saying: How would you feel about doing Dancing with the Stars? A superhero franchise has never been on my radar,” Rudd told Men’s Health.
He continued, “I never really thought I was the type of actor they would offer these roles to. But when that idea came up, I was thrilled to do something so off left field, and I knew that if word got out that I was going to join a superhero franchise, most people would say, what the heck. k? And I have to wear a superhero suit.”
It was these “left” choices Rudd made in his career that helped him carve out a place in Hollywood, and the Marvel film wasn’t the first time he’d done something like that. Rudd also said that after his breakout film, Clueless, he decided to do a play as a follow-up.
“My agent said: What are you doing? My career was just beginning. But I had a really clear idea at the time of what I wanted and how I wanted to do it,” he explained. “I didn’t want to be seen as a prankster among actors I really admire. I really wanted to learn how to do this properly. I had real focus. Certainly some of the films weren’t as good as I thought they would be, but they were useful, each in their own way.”
Calling Wet Hot American Summer a key film in his career, Rudd adds, “Without that, I don’t know if I could do Anchorman, which was groundbreaking. And I’ve worked with Judd Apatow for years.”
The actor is next set to hit theaters in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.