One of the best parts about a superhero/comic book movie is the villain. Whether you love them or hate them, the villain is one of the most exciting parts of these types of films. That was certainly the case with the Yellow Jacket, the villain in Ant-Man.
I had a general meeting with the Executives at Marvel years ago. That was the first thing I said I want to play a Villain.
Who Plays Yellow Jacket In Ant-Man
Corey Stoll is the very talented actor who plays Yellow Jacket in the new Marvel film Ant-Man. In the movie he is the guy that everyone loves to hate. His character is cocky, blunt and well he’s the bad guy. But in real life Corey Stoll is as far from a villain as you can get. He is super sweet, energetic and was super excited about being able to play a villain in a Marvel movie. We had a chance to sit down and chat with Corey about playing Yellow Jacket and he is what he had to say.
Michael Douglas just said that you were the best Villain to date. How is it that you came up with such an amazing Villain and how hard was it?
It really was not hard at all. My first day of shooting was sort of a microcosm of what the whole shoot would be. Where in the Morning was all Motion Capture, totally abstract, just stunts and you know, it was like being in a Silent Film where you run this way and then duck and then pick up a toy train and throw it and it was just pure play. And so that was really fun. And then the Afternoon was a very quiet scene with Michael Douglas where I show up at his house unannounced and it’s our really most sort of intense scene.
And it was just such a great way to start because there are these two extremes of what this role would be. I want to make sure this Character is scary but I also love what a loser he was. And 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.
He’s puffing himself up with these Tom Ford Suits and driving an Aston Martin. He knows that he’s not that guy. And that’s the irony, 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. So I mean I think the script was really smart about giving very real, playable motivations.
Were you always a Comic Book Fan?
Yeah. In Junior High School and High School, I was really into Comic Books starting with the real Super Hero Marvel Comic Books and then getting into some sort of darker stuff.
Who’s your favorite?
You know, he really bounced around but I would definitely say this about Spiderman. He was just the guy that I think that as a High School Student that you could identify with the most. And also just the New Yorkness. I liked Batman and Superman but they were all in these sort of fictional Cities and Spiderman was New York. You know, as a kid from Queens, the idea that fantasy of being able to swing through the buildings that I see every day was really cool.
Let’s talk about the suit.
I did two separate trips down to Atlanta just to try on different versions of the suit and it just never looked right. And I remember the first time I tried it on, everybody was trying to convince themselves that it looked cool. Yeah, yeah, it’s gonna be great, just a little CGI over there and you know, it looked great. And I just felt like a Power Ranger. So and luckily, smarter heads prevailed and they just did it off CGI.
How do you feel about it now?
I think it’s awesome. I’m so excited the way it works. And you know, I was there, I know I wasn’t wearing something but you look at it, it really looks real. It’s really amazing.
Is there something good in him (your character) that you relate to?
Yeah. There’s something that really didn’t end up in the Film but when he’s first selling the Yellow Jacket and this technology, we sort of brainstormed about what would be beneficial applications of this technology and you realize that this actually could save the world. You know, there’s so many things you could do. You could get a shipping container down to the side of a Volkswagen Bug and shipping costs would be like nothing.
And then the Carbon emissions would become smaller, or you could maybe like shrink smoke as it comes out of a Coal powered Planet or you could surgeon down to go and do Micro-Surgery. It really is like this incredibly Utopian thing. And I think there is that element in Darrin that’s like he wants to change the world for the better. It’s just that this Military Application happens to be the most lucrative.
And he just made the wrong choice. But also having Michael Douglas be the person playing the Father figure, that was very easy to sort of identify with wanting to get this approval. But as a youngish Actor I would like his approval.
Ant-Man opens in theaters everywhere tomorrow July 17th. I am so excited for you guys to FINALLY see this movie. You’re going to love it.