On Monday I gave you our experience as we drove over to the house set where we were in Atlanta Georgia in a residential area. The studio was using a house to film in that day because they were filming a birthday party scene where Paul Rudd who plays Ant-man was late for his daughter’s birthday part. He was late because he wasn’t even invited to the party but he loves his daughter so he went as soon as he found out about it. This is the scene we spent most of the day watching. He arrived at the house where Judy Greer who plays his ex-wife Maggie and Bobby Cannavale who plays Paxton wouldn’t let him in at first. Maggie lets him in though so he can see his daughter and give her his birthday present. It seems that to both of them family is important.
While on set we had the opportunity to interview Judy Greet to learn more about the relationship and how she came to this project. Here are the things I learned from her.
How did you get involved with the project?
Judy : Um, old-fashioned. They just auditioned. But I did get the part within I think less than 24 hours, which for a movie audition is very rare. Usually TV happens really fast. But for films, and especially a film like this scale. There’s so many producers and studio executives that it usually has a lot of people it has to go through. But, yeah, I found out the next morning. And that was my first audition in a really long time ’cause I’d been working a lot. So I was feeling pretty good about myself. I’m not gonna lie.
Did you know what you were auditioning for?
Judy : Yeah, I just wasn’t allowed to read the script ahead of time. But I knew the movie and Paul.
Why did you want to audition for it?
Judy : I really love Peyton Reed. There was another director attached to it before whose name I totally forget, which is bad. But I was really excited to work with Peyton because he’s I think really funny. And I think what some of these super hero movies lack is like a genuine sense of comedy in them. And I think that the serious like super hero movies are great for like the super fans.
But it’s the comedy that’s gonna keep us interested in them when we’re watching them over and over with our kids or whatever. You know, like Guardians of the Galaxy was so funny. And so I would watch that a bunch if it was on television. And you know how kids just– they fuckin’ watch the same thing over and over and over. (everyone laughed) I mean over and over. I’m like we have seen this episode of Good Luck Charlie so many times. But, um, yeah, so I was excited about the comedy. And with Paul being Ant-Man I knew it was gonna be funny.
Did you have to do any research for your part?
Judy : Well, I did do research because they gave us information about it. But, you know, my role isn’t really in the like stunty super hero parts of the movie. So I feel like I can get away with, um, not having to know too much.
Can you tell them a bit about your role and the character you play?
Judy : Yeah, so I play Scott Lang who’s Paul Rudd’s character’s ex-wife. And we’ve sort of established that in our relationship when I got pregnant we were gonna kinda live the straight life. Ok, so– so basically we were married when we were really young. Scott Lang’s character is extremely intelligent and able to do kind of like I don’t know like cyber law breaking.
And when I got pregnant I asked him to stop. And he didn’t. And he ended up getting arrested and going to jail. So we got a divorce. And I had our baby. Well, I already had the baby. But we got a divorce. And I, um, met Jim Paxton, Bobby Cannavale’s character. And we’re engaged. And so our relationship is good. It’s just we’re not married anymore. But I think we had a really amicable divorce.
So we’re friendly. And I want him to see his daughter. And I want him to have custody. And I want that stuff most– you know, for my daughter. But he can’t, you know, put her in danger anymore, which is what he I felt was doing by breaking the law when, you know, she was a baby. So that’s my role. I’m like you have to get a job and be responsible. And he’s like, ugh!
Do you see a lot of similarities in yourself when you put yourself into the character?
Judy : Yeah, I always do. I– I don’t know, it’s just easier if I just kind of play a version of myself. And, um, yeah, even like the scene yesterday that we shot, which was a really cool scene where we confront Scott about having to shape up in order to see his daughter Cassie. I think I feel like I wanted her to be like cool and strong and compassionate.
It’s not like– this guy’s not the devil. You know, he just messed up. So, I felt like that was definitely coming from me ’cause I don’t know that the text– the text maybe was supporting someone who was more emotional. And I wanted her to be like a strong person and in her own way like a positive influence on her ex-husband. I also find that to be more layered and interesting…..
So being your first Marvel like feature what is this like for you?
Judy : Yeah, um, well, I don’t know. It’s really fun to be here. I can tell you that. Like it’s just been such an easy job because everyone’s nice and cool. And there’s …….. I don’t know. It just seems like we have time to figure out the material. And, again, you know, I’m not in like stunty super heroey scenes. So I– that might be a different answer. But for my scenes, they’re more acty and more about like inner personal relationships.
And I feel like they’re giving us a lot of space and a lot of time to figure those out. And I really like that. But it’s also really fun because the combination of Peyton and Paul Rudd and Bobby Cannavale is awesome. They’re really funny.
We’ve heard you guys kind of cracking up and making jokes. And Paul Rudd was calling you dense and all of that. Was that something that was kind of consistent throughout filming?
Judy : It has been for me, yeah. It seems like it….I came back. I was gone for a minute. I shot some stuff, and then I left town and came back to finish up this stuff. And when I came back, uh, it was Friday, last Friday. We shot a really long day. And I got in Thursday evening, like slept, got up, came. We shot like 15 hours. And I was like so tired at the end of it. But we were all still hanging out and making jokes and having fun like what you saw today.
And I then I remembered….God….Paul’s been doing this all week. Like I’m like ugh! Like he’s been doing this all week like shooting 15-hour days all week for weeks. And he’s still like fresh and fun and funny and like making jokes and so nice to everybody. So, yeah, it– it feels like that’s just who he is. And same with Bobby and Peyton.
Judy was very kind to give us her time in between takes as well. People think acting is so glamorous and it is in a way but there is so much work that goes into it. I mean imagine working 15 hour days all week. Doing interviews while the set is reset and then going right back to work. Plus each seen is shot over and over again, then they change the camera angle and you do it again.
Ant-man is in theaters July 17th.