Compares ‘Die Hard With A Vengeance’ With ‘Slumdog Millionaire’; Gives A Small ‘Ant-Man’ Update (Sort Of)
We got to sit down this afternoon at the New York Comic Con with Joe Cornish, who made one of our very favorite movies of the year, the alien invasion romp “Attack the Block.” There will be more from our interview in the next few days, but while we were chatting with him we had to ask if the recent rumors were true – that he was shortlisted to direct Fox‘s next “Die Hard” entry, the hilariously titled “Good Day to Die Hard.” Our interest was further piqued after Nicholas Winding Refn, who was also supposedly up for the job, told us that he had never been approached.
Cornish however confirmed that he was, in fact, offered the job.
“I was very flattered to have been approached by the producers of that film,” Cornish says. “But I pretty quickly said, ‘Thank you but not right now.’ I am hugely flattered and am a massive fan of that franchise. Particularly the first three…Well, particularly the first one.”
We interjected that the third film, “Die Hard with a Vengeance,” is also pretty great. “Yeah, I do like three. I think it’s an amazing game show,” he said. “It’s kind of like ‘Slumdog Millionaire‘ before ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ – the idea that you have to solve math problems with water jugs or New York is going to explode, is pretty incredible.”
Cornish then outlined the reason why he refused the gig: “Ultimately I think it would have been too big a step to take. Some directors do do it. That guy Rupert Wyatt made a very low budget movie called ‘The Escapist‘ and then he took on ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes‘ and did an amazing job. But he’s a braver man than me.”
But he still could be involved in a very large franchise, as it was recently reported that Cornish and frequent collaborator Edgar Wright had turned in a new draft of “Ant-Man” to the powers that be at Marvel (they were said to have been very excited about it). “Yeah, we did,” he says, confirming that they had submitted a new draft. “In fact, as soon as I finished at South by Southwest I went back to Los Angeles and wrote with Edgar for the next two or three weeks. We’re really proud of it.”
As for whether or not the movie itself is moving forward remains up in the air. “I don’t know, man. I’d love for it to happen but it’s really up to Edgar and Marvel,” Cornish said. We had heard that at one point Cornish and Wright were going to put several of the Ant-Men (meaning people that had put on superhero scientist Hank Pym’s suit) into the script, meaning that they could have thrown in our personal favorite Ant-Man – Eric O’Grady, low-level S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent turned shadily “Irredeemable” Ant Man.
Cornish smiled at our implication and said, slyly, “No comment.” He then started to say something, “Well, you know…” before shutting himself off with another “No comment.”
Take of that what you will folks but it seems like a possible indication that more than one person will be wearing the amazing shrinking suit of Hank Pym. We’ll know when (and if) “Ant-Man” ever hits the big screen. But you can look forward to “Attack the Block” when it hits DVD (and BluRay) in a features-packed disc on October 25th.