'No-nonsense' Lilly blooms with 'Ant-Man'
FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — The classic '60s bob she's wearing may look cute, but it's actually a little bit of a warning to the bad guys of Ant-Man: It's best not to trifle with Evangeline Lilly.
The star of TV's Lost and two movies in The Hobbit trilogy makes her Marvel Studios debut in the new superhero film (in theaters July 17). While Paul Rudd's title character gets the most action, Lilly figures her Hope Van Dyne, the businesswoman and scientist daughter of inventor Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), is second when it comes to throwdowns.
"Emotionally, she's a bit messed up, but mentally and physically, she's pretty capable," Lilly says.
It's an early November day at Pinewood Studios near Atlanta, on a stage housing the futuristic labs of Pym Technologies. Lilly will later beat down some dudes while wearing a business suit, but before that, clad in workout gear, she practices with stunt folks, getting her lithe and muscular body loose for the upcoming scene.
"Every once in a while, just to warm up, she just drops down and does 20 really good pushups," Douglas says. "She's a kicka-- daughter."
All the actors have trained for stunts before, "but Evangeline has an aptitude for it," adds Ant-Man director Peyton Reed. "It's amazing to watch her fight.
"She's our real secret weapon. She leaps off the screen."
Just like Lilly, Hope has a lot of confidence in her abilities. In fact, she takes offense when her father hires cat burglar Scott Lang (Rudd) to use the super-shrinking Ant-Man suit and steal an important piece of technology out from the clutches of Pym's villainous protégé Darren Cross (Corey Stoll).
In Hope's mind, she's the one who should be wearing the Ant-Man suit.
The movie pays homage to the comic-book character Janet Van Dyne — in the film, she's Hope's dead mother — and her days as the superheroine Wasp going back to the 1960s. Marvel was initially wary that Lilly's short haircut would look too similar to Janet's, thinking it might tease that Hope would take flight as the Wasp in the movie.
But Lilly, 35, fought for it. She liked the retro look for Hope, plus from a woman's perspective, it was pretty low-maintenance. "I just felt she would have no-nonsense hair," Lilly says. "She would just have a haircut that would say, 'I mean business. Don't (mess) with me.' "
Hope is the latest in a string of powerful Marvel women; Avengers: Age of Ultron featured a pair of them this summer, Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow and Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch. And it was the prospect of joining that superhero family, and maybe one day playing a bigger role in it, that persuaded Lilly to sign on for Ant-Man.
"I don't really like multipicture deals. I was always feel nervous about what if my life plans change, what if I don't want to do it," says Lilly, mom to 4-year-old son Kahekili. She has a second child on the way.
"On the flip side, I love the Avengers films. They're so cool. And I thought, 'Yeah, but how cool would it be to be in an Avengers film?!' That is a motivating factor."
While many actresses rush out to get personal trainers and nutritionists when they get an action role like Ant-Man, keeping herself in great shape is "just who I am," Lilly says.
What was new this time around was learning the basics of boxing, which was unnatural for her. (Hope gives Scott a boxing lesson in the film, which ends with him on the floor and her quipping, "That's how you punch.")
"I've always been told by stunt teams that I move like a dancer, and boxing is gritty," Lilly says. "It's very masculine and there's zero femininity to it: You have to hunch your shoulders, stick your jaw out.
"Even making fists, I get the giggles because I go, 'Look at my tiny little fists! This is ridiculous. It doesn't look tough at all. I'm not intimidated by these things!' "