Hannah John-Kamen has a wonderful opportunity with the character Ghost in Ant-Man and the Wasp. But that blessing becomes a major challenge during early set visit interviews. John-Kamen steps into the MCU as Ant-Man and the Wasp antagonist, Ghost. In the comics, very little is divulged abut the true identity of the character. He’s something of a super-hacker who wears a suit that gives him the ability to turn both himself and anything he touches invisible.

In Peyton Reed's Ant-Man and the Wasp however, he is a she, and while John-Kamen was clearly thrilled with the nearly blank slate she got for the big screen rendition of the character, that meant she had to be on high alert for spoilers during our set visit interview back in September 2017. But while she couldn’t offer up any specifics at that time, she did discuss the creative opportunity, working with Reed, and her take on doing her own stunts. You can check all of that out in the interview below. Ant-Man and the Wasp hits theaters on July 6th.

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There’s been a lot of mystery surrounding your character. What can you tell us about Ghost?

HANNAH JOHN-KAMEN: Well, she’s certainly a mystery. She’s this mystique. She is the female antagonist of the movie. I can’t really say anything else. [Laughs] It sucks, I know, but she is the antagonist of the movie. She is a she. Because in the original, you know, it’s the opposite sex, and obviously in this modern way, in the modern world, changing it up and having a female character of Marvel’s Ghost is really, really cool and definitely forward thinking.

Did the comics still serve as an inspiration or are you mostly just using the script?

JOHN-KAMEN: It’s script. I mean, I’m such a fan of the comic. I just, I love all the comics and the original comics, and looking at the similarities or differences in comics and the movies so, yeah.

Since Ghost is such a mysterious character, even in the comics, what was it like to have a character who is kind of a blank slate to craft your own version?

JOHN-KAMEN: I think with any role it’s always a blank slate to carve anything, whether you’re playing a superhero, a villain, anything from any comic, I think it’s important as an actor to have your own input, interpretation of that anyway. And so it’s been amazing. It’s been so much fun to work with Peyton on that.

They’ve been pretty mysterious about the Ghost costume as well. I don’t know what you can tell us, but what have been the challenges of getting into the costume?

JOHN-KAMEN: It’s been fine. I mean, the costume is amazing. It’s absolutely amazing. And I think the more you get to know your costume the more you wear it, the more it kind of fits and molds to your body. So it’s been great.

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Image via Marvel Studios

Did you have to do a lot of stunt and fight training?

JOHN-KAMEN: I do my own. I love doing my own stunts, 100%. I think it makes such a difference when you as an actor do your stunts. So it’s been really fun having that experience and training cause, you know, there are certain things - if you just let your double do everything, you’re not there to help choreograph the movement of your character. It’s so nice to have the freedom to be able to go, ‘Do you know what? Let’s find the movement of the character and see what actual kind of moves will work for that particular person.’ So yeah, I’ve been doing mine, which is great.

Can you comment on your style of movement? Evangeline Lilly told us she was going for something graceful.

JOHN-KAMEN: I definitely, uh - ghosty. [Laughs] That’s all I’m gonna give you.

Is it freeing to play this suited person that, beyond the suit, we and Ant-Man and the Wasp and these other figures won’t have a personal connection with you?

JOHN-KAMEN: It’s very freeing. You know, to play this character and whether you were in the suit or not, or what the perception of the character is, it’s a new character. And when it’s a new character, there is freedom with that.

What’s Ghost’s relationship with technology in this movie? Does the character retain the sort of hacker status from the comics?

JOHN-KAMEN: [Laughs] No comment on that one. I can’t honestly - that’s a tough one to try and get around.

For our readers who might not be familiar with Ghost from the source material, can you give a brief, general description of who she is?

JOHN-KAMEN: I know, it sucks. But the thing is, it’s one of those things where of course I’d love to give you more of what we know of who she is, but then that’s just gonna spoil it for the movie and the fans, and you wanna wait and see that stuff.

Can you talk more about how the role has been gender swapped? What does that mean to you getting to play a character like that?

JOHN-KAMEN: Definitely that’s been amazing. I think that the kind of gender swapping from male to female is - you know, you look at graphic novels, you can look at comic books that were written so long ago, and they’re like 50-years-old or 40-years-old, and it’s nice to like go, ‘Do you know what? This is a modern world.’ It’s again freeing to be able to take that character and go, ‘Yeah, that can be played by a male or female,’ and that’s definitely forward thinking. And that’s been amazing to be able to do.

Are there any books or movies you’re watching as inspiration or prep? Or that Peyton has the cast digging into for tone?

JOHN-KAMEN: I mean, Peyton’s amazing. It’s so good to work with a director who is such a fan of the world that, you know, we’re all working on and for me personally, I’m a huge fan of Marvel and I’ve watched, you know, every Avengers, Captain America, everything. And yeah, the tone of the show in the first Ant-Man as well and seeing the - I mean, I thought it was amazing the first one, the way that it had the comedy as well. And it’s important. So there’s definitely, for myself, my own research of what I do is what I do, but just in terms of the tone, I’m already a fan of Marvel so that’s definitely something that I’ve done before.

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Image via Marvel Studios

I’m curious about the experience of coming to this project. When you’re auditioning for this character, how much information is given to you? Can you talk about the process?

JOHN-KAMEN: The process is amazing. It’s a very open process. It’s a great process and everybody has such an open dialogue. Everyone is so open and wonderful with each other, and Peyton’s always there to discuss everything, the script, the character and even the set. I really feel like it is freeing to be able to do that with everybody who’s part of this process.

For even more from our Ant-Man and the Wasp set visit, you can browse the links below:

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Image via Marvel Studios
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Image via Marvel Studios
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Image via Marvel Studios
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