It all began with Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, but quite a few names have been thrown into the Ant-Man mix since.  It’s been reported that Eric Pearson, the Marvel One Shot scribe, is the man responsible for delivering a draft that wound up increasing the divide between Wright and Marvel, Wright dropped out, Peyton Reed stepped in and Adam McKay signed on to rewrite the script for him.

With so many big changes happening so quickly, and so close to the start of principal photography at that, you’d think that would be it, but Marvel’s not ready to forge forward with the project just yet.  The script still needs work and the studio has recruited Gabriel Ferrari and Andrew Barrer to do it.  Hit the jump for more.

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Ferrari and Barrer first scored some serious attention after graduating from NYU and landing a spot on the 2010 Black List with Die in a Gunfight.  However, according to Latino Review, it’s their draft of Sabrina the Teenage Witch that got them the gig to polish the Ant-Man script.

The Wrap confirmed the report and also pointed out that the pair will handle any necessary on-set changes.  A writer is typically on hand while shooting so alternations can be made swiftly.  Clearly Wright and Cornish weren’t going to do that after walking and apparently McKay is too tied up with other projects, so Marvel picked up Ferrari and Barrer because they’re “younger,” “cheaper,” and also because their scripts have a similar tone to what Marvel is aiming for here.

Really, this happens all the time.  There are countless tentpoles out there with a lengthy list of writers attached.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but the problem with adding more to Ant-Man specifically at this point is that you just can’t help but think, enough is enough.  The film has gone from the highest of highs, having all the potential in the world pairing Marvel’s resources with Wright’s unique style, to essentially crashing and burning last minute and then seemingly desperately being stitched back together.  Perhaps Wright and Cornish’s script is still in there, but we’ve lost a lot of what made Ant-Man special, added a lot of Hollywood drama, and now it’s just tough to be as excited and hopeful anymore.

However, in an effort to look on the bright side, if Ferrari and Barrer are as good as they say, they could make the film better, right?  It can be risky to have so many creatives in play, but these are two young, new guys who I’d like to imagine are very eager to make a good impression.  After all the recent disappointment, perhaps that kind of enthusiasm and gusto is exactly what Ant-Man needs.

Ant-Man is expected to go into production in August with Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Pena, Corey Stoll and Patrick Wilson leading the roster. Marvel still plans to release it on July 17, 2015.

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