Ant-Man and the Wasp star Evangeline Lilly will soon be seen donning the Wasp superhero suit in the upcoming film. She is lucky enough to have got the opportunity to play one of the first female title characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Lilly recently admitted that there was a point of time in her life when she nearly decided to quit acting altogether.
Lilly’s first acting venture was the 2004 television series Lost in which she portrayed the character of Kate Austen. She was a part of the ABC series from beginning to end. After the show ended, she acted alongside Hugh Jackman in Real Steel. But once the film wrapped up, she intended on retiring from acting. She was almost cut off from the film industry for two years as she got busy taking care of her child and writing scripts during that time.
“Basically, by accident, my first speaking role in film or television was Lost, and so I was instantly launched into international stardom, and that was really uncomfortable for me,” Lilly told The Hollywood Reporter. “I instantly balked, didn’t know how to deal with it and felt very uncomfortable after that situation. I ended up deciding to retire after I finished Lost. I did a film called Real Steel with Hugh Jackman and then I walked away. I said, ‘I’m done, I’m never doing this again.’”
However, the situation changed when Peter Jackson, who is the director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and subsequent prequel series The Hobbit, approached Lilly for the role of Tauriel.
“I got a covert call from Peter Jackson, who I knew through my relationship with Dom[inic Monaghan] back in the day, and he said, ‘Nobody in Hollywood seems to be able to reach Evangeline, but we want to get a hold of her because we want to cast her in this film,’” the Ant-Man and the Wasp actress recalled. “And I was so torn because I had genuinely retired, I thought I was done, but I really wanted to do the movie. The little 13-year-old girl in me was like ‘I get to be a woodland elf? What?’”
The call just changed everything for her. The Wasp actress finally decided to give one more try and she completely enjoyed shooting for Peter Jackson’s film. Then there was no looking back for her.
“I made a decision and I decided to go do the film. I had a wonderful time making that movie: One of the highlights in my life was living in New Zealand for that year and being a part of that family. That helped opened my eyes to the fact that, OK, this job can be a joy, it’s just a matter of how you approach it, and what you do with it, how much I put myself out there, and to a certain degree, how much I work,” Lilly said.
After appearing as Tauriel in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Lilly was roped in by Marvel to play Hope van Dyne, the daughter of scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) in Ant-Man. And now finally, she will appear as the Wasp in the soon to be released Ant-Man and the Wasp.
We will get to see Evangeline Lilly’s Wasp in action when Ant-Man and the Wasp opens in theatres on Friday.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
