Coming into a massive franchise like the Marvel Cinematic Universe can be a daunting prospect for even the most seasoned actor. So for Kathryn Newton, who takes over the role of Cassie Lang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, she felt she needed to ask for advice from MCU veteran Paul Rudd. While speaking with The Wrap, Newton revealed that during a break on set, Rudd was happy to compliment her work and give her some helpful advice. She said:

“You know, we fell right into Cassie and Scott immediately. And we had some rehearsals, Paul was doing some improv, and I would just do a little bit. And when we started filming, we did a couple scenes with Michael [Douglas] and Michelle [Pfeiffer] and Evangeline [Lilly], and Paul and I were on our break. And he was like, ‘Listen, I can tell you’re funny. Just don’t hold back.’ He’s like, ‘If I could say one thing, don’t finish this movie and wish that you didn’t try that joke. Just don’t hold back, do it all.’ He’s like, ‘It’s a movie. At the end of the day, they’re gonna cut it if it’s not funny, and they might use it if it is.’ And I was like, ‘Really? On a Marvel movie, you can try things? And he’s like, ‘Yes.’”

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania Will Be One of the Most Important MCU Movies for the Multiverse Saga

     Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

As the first movie of Phase 5 of the MCU, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is not the mostly stand-alone comic relief that Ant-Man movies have been in the past. This time around, the film will see Rudd’s size-shifting hero coming face to face with the MCU’s new big bad, Kang the Conqueror, in what could be a brutal and far-reaching Quantum Realm confrontation.

When it was first announced, the idea of the MCU’s “new Thanos” first appearing in an Ant-Man movie took many by surprise, but director Peyton Reed previously addressed this by saying this time around, they didn’t want to make Ant-Man just a “pallet cleanser.” Reed said:

Instead, the third Ant-Man movie will continue to build on what came before, most notably the involvement of the Quantum Realm, which will be the center of the action this time around. Reed noted:

“People felt like, Oh, these are fun little palate cleansers after a gigantic Avengers movie. For this third one, I said, ‘I don’t want to be the palate cleanser anymore. I want to be the big Avengers movie.’”

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is released in theaters on Feb. 17.

“In the first one, we introduced the idea of the Quantum Realm, we kind of dipped our toe into it, and then even more so in the second one, but we obviously left a lot of unanswered questions. We wanted to go in a different direction, and create an epic movie where the bulk of it takes place in the Quantum Realm. For me, it was really exciting, because the other two films take place in San Francisco, and this one, we were creating this incredibly complex subatomic world, and all the environments and ecosystems and creatures and beings that inhabit that world."