Ant-Man and the Wasp star Evangeline Lilly, 43, did not hold back when she spoke with Josh Horowitz on his Happy Sad Confused podcast on Thursday. Not only did the blonde beauty share that she rejected Hugh Jackman‘s offer for a role in the X-Men franchise, but she also did the same when it came to Joss Whedon‘s Wonder Woman offer. “Hugh Jackman was like, ‘Hey, so, the X-Men guys are asking me if I would approach you because they know that you won’t talk to anybody,” she jokingly said. “They knew I was working with you and were interested to know if it would ever interest you to do an X-Men thing.” In response, Evangeline admitted, “I was like, ‘No. It doesn’t interest me. I’m not interested.'”
Despite telling the 54-year-old actor that his successful franchise didn’t appeal to her, Evangeline noted how she still felt bad about it. “I was like, ‘I feel like such a d*** because I’m talking to an X-Men! The X-Men! And I’m telling him, ‘No that doesn’t appeal. Like, what?!’ I felt so rude!”, the 43-year-old told Josh. Later, the Lost alum said that “superhero movies” simply “don’t appeal” to her.
“It didn’t appeal and there was nothing about the meeting that like, jazzed me or made me think like, ‘Oh, I’ve gotta do this.’ Nothing clicked. Nothing felt good,” the mom-of-two said. “I am way too authentic for my own good. I mean, it’s not good. If I am not impressed, you’ll know. And maybe you shouldn’t know sometimes.” Evangeline also revealed that she didn’t think she would gain much from doing either project. “I just always had to do what felt right for me,” she explained. “And honestly I wasn’t into superhero movies and that’s the main reason why, in both of these instances, I just kind of felt like I don’t know what I get out of this.”
Although the Canada native was not a big fan of superhero movies prior, once she watched Marvel movies she changed her mind. “And when I did [watch Marvel movies] I was like, ‘oh they’re doing something very different and very cool'”, the starlet continued. Finally, in 2015 Evangeline landed the role of Hope Pym in Peyton Reed‘s Ant-Man alongside Paul Rudd, 53. Although she was hesitant to take on the project, when Peyton joined it turned things around for her. “It was the next iteration of the script,” she said.
“For me, everything lives and breathes and the script. Which is hard in a Marvel film because it’s changing the whole way through,” she went on. Evangeline also gave credit where it’s due and praised Marvel Studios for creating an “overarching feeling” so that audiences know they are “in the same universe.” By the end, the actress said she was “convinced” to join the Marvel project and it’s follow-up movie, Avengers: Endgame, in 2019. The next chapter in the Ant-Man franchise is Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which is set to hit theaters on Feb. 17. Evangeline and Paul will reprise their roles, with Blockers’ Kathryn Newton, 26, and Devotion star Jonathan Majors, 33, joining.