While in Atlanta this fall on the set visit of Ant-Man and the Wasp, we got to sit down with Evangeline Lilly to talk to her about all things Wasp from Ant-Man and the Wasp.
MARVEL’S ANT-MAN & THE WASP – BEN ROTHSTEIN © 2017 MARVEL
Our Evangeline Lilly interview from Ant-Man was one of my favorite interviews to date. Evangeline is so down-to-earth. I remember her being the glowing, beautiful expectant woman the last time around, just so excited to be a mom for the second time. She’d just written a children’s book. Is there anything this woman can’t do? Honestly, I look at Evangeline, and think, “Dang, this woman is incredible!”
Now Evangeline Lilly is the first female Marvel character to be in the title of a Marvel film—an incredibly impressive feat when you consider the slew of female superheroes we’ve seen Marvel pump out over the last decade.
Ant-Man and the Wasp has heart, but the film is also about family. Evangeline Lilly has hopes for what young girls will take away from watching the movie, and the message couldn’t be more real and raw.
Marvel Studios ANT-MAN AND THE WASP.L to R: The Wasp/Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Paul Rudd). BTS on set. Photo: Ben Rothstein. ©Marvel Studios 2018
“I realize that what I hope for girls and women to take away from the film is a lesson that I have been trying to learn for the last I don’t know 20 years, which is that we can’t do it all, and everyone tells us we can and it’s a very unfair expectation to put on us, and I think we all feel like we’re failing at everything ‘cause we’re trying to do it all.”
“I mean, I’ve got two kids at home. I run an NGO. I am a writer. I’m an actor. I’m trying to produce. Like all these things and I think, ‘God, it just doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel balanced. Why am I not spending more time with my kids? Why don’t I have time to do this? Why did my kid miss homework three nights this week? Like what’s going on?’ You start questioning and if you sit back and really think about it it’s because it’s ridiculous what we’re trying to do. I clean my house. You know, I cook. I do all the things, and it’s like somewhere something’s gotta give and really that’s the journey that Hope goes in is she finally realizes she’s met a foe that is bigger than her and stronger than her and, and she will not win unless she leans on Scott, and I think in this day and age men more than ever want women to lean on them because they feel like they’ve lost their place.”
“They’ve lost their role and they don’t—I think men feel lost a lot and I think that comes down to us ignoring all the noise and the lessons we’ve been taught that we can do it all, we can do everything and saying I can’t actually. I need help and I need a partner. I need someone even if it’s not your, you know, in my case it’s my spouse or my partner. But even if it’s your sister or your mother or your father or a friend, you know, we reach out and we, we ask for help when we need it and that’s ultimately what Hope needs to learn in this film.”
Marvel Studios ANT-MAN AND THE WASP. The Wasp/Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) BTS on set. Photo: Ben Rothstein. ©Marvel Studios 2018
As a working mom of 4 kids, I can relate. But wow, that hit me. Even just being away on this trip to take the opportunity to interview the talent of Ant-Man and the Wasp, you have to take a moment to recognize that you can’t do it all as a mom. I know homework got missed. I know life isn’t perfectly balanced. Two weeks before this trip I was traveling for the non-profit I work for to be at our annual event. My husband runs the show when I’m gone. We have a pretty well-oiled machine, but we can’t go it alone.
Thanks to Walt Disney Studios for bringing me to Atlanta on an all-expense paid trip. As always, all opinions are my own.
Ant-Man and the Wasp flies into theatres July 6, 2018.
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