I was invited as media to cover this press event. All opinions are mine alone.
Ant-Man releases in theaters this Friday! Get ready for an action packed comedic film. Today I’m sharing insider details on the movie’s villain, Darren Cross (Yellow Jacket). During the Ant-Man press junket, we had the opportunity to sit down with the actor behind the mask, Corey Stoll, to talk comics, life, and his role as the villain in the film.
Corey Stoll Interview:
During the interview a few Ant-Man toy collectables were placed on the table. Corey immediately noticed and picked them.”That is so cool,” Corey said when holding the Yellow Jacket figure. When asked about playing a villain and how hard the role was, Corey responded with, “it was not hard at all.” He shared that his first day of shooting included an intense scene with him and Michael Douglas. That scene he’s referring to is in the middle of the film, so it’s kind of interesting to hear how they work behind the scenes. By the way – that moment is seriously intense. Once you see the film, you’ll know exactly what I mean. 😉
When describing his character Corey mentions, “he’s the least cool guy in the world. He wants to be Tony Stark. He wants to be the coolest guy in the world.” Corey adds, “he’s trying to buff himself up in the end to impress this father figure and it’s exactly the opposite of what a father figure wants. I think the script was really smart about giving very real, playable motivations.”
Q: Were you always a comic book fan?
Corey: “Yea, I was really into comic books starting with the real super hero Marvel Comic Books and then getting into some sort of darker stuff, but yeah Spiderman, X-Men, and all that stuff.”
Corey shares that he made two trips to test out the suit and in the end it just “never looked right.” Adding, “I felt like a Power Ranger.” So using technology they made the suit work in the film.
He also mentions that the vault scene with Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly, where he makes his big villain monologue took roughly 3 days to film. Describing it as, “an endurance feat” and also sharing that it was really fun to have the license to be “sort of a Bond villain.”
When asked if there’s something good in his character he can relate to, Corey shares a deleted scene with us. The scene included him trying to sell the Yellow Jacket technology and explaining all the positive reasons it could be used for good in the world. Adding, “I think there is that element in Darrin that’s like he wants to change the world for the better. And he just made the wrong choice.”
After watching the film twice now – I can agree that Corey plays an amazing villain. This is definitely a must-see Marvel movie! If you want to catch up on previous Ant-Man interviews, check out the Antourage post here, Michael Douglas, and Paul Rudd & Evangeline Lilly interview here.
Here’s a clip about Darren Cross in Ant-Man:
