Paul Rudd Recalls The One Interview Moment That Led To A Telling Off From Marvel

Paul Rudd has admitted he is so uncomfortable talking about himself in interviews that this once led to him getting a telling off from Marvel bosses.

The former Friends star has played the titular role in the Ant-Man franchise since 2015, admitting during an interview with Dax Shephard’s Armchair Expert podcast that he “wasn’t super aware” of the franchise before being cast.

“Explaining what Ant-Man was, it seemed silly,” he recalled. “And it was obviously something I think even Marvel was aware of, because it was like, ‘OK, when you talk about this, don’t make fun of it’.”

Paul then recalled an incident he first told his then-eight-year-old son about landing the role of Ant-Man, sharing: “I told my son, who was eight years old at the time, that I’d been cast as a superhero in a Marvel’, and he goes, ‘who are you playing?’, and I said, ‘Ant-Man’, and he said, ‘who? Ant-Man?’.

“And I go, ‘well, he shrinks down to the size of an ant’ – and by the way, I’m laughing as I’m saying it. His response was, ‘I can’t wait to see how stupid that’ll be’. But it was more in reference to me than the actual property of Ant-Man. He was like, ’you’re gonna play a superhero?’.”

He then revealed that he told this story on a US talk show shortly after being cast, adding: “And afterwards, Marvel is like, ‘great, but hey… when you’re talking about it, maybe don’t shit on it. Just until people learn what it is’.”

When the host joked Paul was on an “anti-promotional tour” at the time, he commented: “My entire my career, I’m on an anti-promotional tour.”

Elaborating more on his aversion to talking about himself on camera, Paul noted: “My inclination in everything is never to sell anything. If anything it’s always to submarine it.

“And maybe that’s one of the reasons I don’t like doing press or anything. It’s like, ‘tell us about your new project’, and no matter what ‘my new project’ is, I always think, like, ‘why the fuck do you guys want to talk about this?. I don’t wanna talk about this’.

“There’s always the questions like, ‘what do you hope audiences take away?’, and I’m like, ‘I don’t know!’ I’d rather talk about what you’re up to, or something completely separate from anything.”

Fortunately, as the years have gone Paul has since got a lot better at plugging his films.

The Clueless actor is currently in full promo mode for the new Marvel film Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania, which marks his fifth outing in the MCU.

Last week saw Paul going viral when he was prank-called live on Radio 1 by a very famous friend, as well as giving two Australian reporters a masterclass in the delicate art of the Hollywood wink.

Listen to his full interview on Armchair Expert here.