‘Ant-Man’ Casting: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Paul Rudd Eyed For Lead Role

Since the project was first announced, fans have wondered who would tackle the lead role in Edgar Wright’s Marvel flick Ant-Man. We may finally have our first official contenders.

According to the folks at Variety, casting on the project is finally moving forward. The website claims that the director and Marvel Studios are presently eyeing Paul Rudd and Joseph Gordon-Levitt for the role of the superhero in the upcoming adaptation.

The website reports that the studio recently waded through a series of candidates for Ant-Man. Although there’s still a chance that someone else could land the role, it’s believed that Rudd and Gordon-Levitt are the current frontrunners.

IGN reports that executives from Marvel Studios and Edgar Wright will meet with the actors one more time before they make their decision. Although it’s believed one of these guys will snag the role, it’s probably best to see who actually lands the part before planning your own private celebration.

Wright recently told The Huffington Post that he hopes the fanboys won’t rip him apart for the way Ant-Man is portrayed in the upcoming film. The director said he thinks the character’s limited popularity might help keep detractors at bay.

The filmmaker explained:

“I think there’s something in that it’s a lesser known character, there’s hopefully more license. For the one percent of people who are like, ‘Wait, Hank Pym would never do that!’ there’s 99 percent going, ‘Who’s Hank Pym?’ So, to me, the source material is great but it also frees you up to be like: I’m going to make a movie. The movie is not going to represent 50 years of Marvel comics because that’s impossible. But I’m going to make a 100 minute movie — or 110 minutes.”

One person who is definitely not in the running for the lead is Shaun of the Dead star Simon Pegg. Although the internet was completely convinced that the Star Trek Into Darkness alum had scored the role, he later issued a statement on Twitter about the rumors.

“FFS the Internet, all I did was point at the central character in my dear friend’s next movie, because I’m excited for him,” Pegg tweeted.

Here’s the image that got tongues wagging.

Fun at Marvel #3 pic.twitter.com/2hcVhG7695

— Simon Pegg (@simonpegg) August 15, 2013

Ant-Man will hit the big screen on July 31, 2015. Do you think Paul Rudd and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are good candidates for the lead role?

[Image via Marvel Comics]