Michael Douglas discusses his 'Ant-Man' plans

NEW YORK, July 8 (UPI) -- Michael Douglas says he is excited to start working on the Marvel Comics picture Ant-Man this summer, in part, because it will be his first special-effects movie.

The Oscar-winning actor -- whose credits include Romancing the Stone, Wall Street, Basic Instinct, The American President and Traffic -- will play scientist Hank Pym in director Peyton Reed's upcoming comic-book adaptation of Ant-Man, while Paul Rudd will portray the title character.

"It's a Marvel Comics movie and they actually pay you really well. There could be a sequel. It's got some humor to it. It's got some interesting special effects. To say the least," Douglas told reporters during a round-table interview in New York Tuesday.

The 69-year-old actor and tongue-cancer survivor went on to say he intends to participate in a panel discussion to hype the movie later this month at Comic-Con in San Diego. The film is set for a 2015 release.

"I'm going to Comic-Con. I'm even dragging my son," he said, referring to 13-year-old Dylan, one of his two children with his wife, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.

"I've promised to take him out of camp. I'll go pick him up and take him out of camp," he explained. "But we've got to be back here. I have to give a cancer speech on Sunday morning. Marvel is 8:45 on Saturday night, so we're going to fly all night back and drop him at camp, I guess 5:30, 6 in the morning in the Adirondacks, then come down and talk to 2,000 head and neck surgeons. I'll be like, 'I'm just back from Comic-Con!'"

Asked about the departure of original Ant-Man writer-director Edgar Wright from the project, Douglas replied: "It was a very big disappointment and, more so for him, because he had a lot of years invested and he was really the one who initially got them to even consider it with the screenplay he wrote. I'm not the producer on it. I am an actor for hire and Marvel certainly has a pretty amazing track record -- rightly or wrongly -- so I think it was just that kind of combination where, although they liked the idea of somebody with Edgar's individual spirit, it maybe just collided with the operation. I think they are all on relatively decent terms."

So, why has Douglas always stayed away from big-budget, special effects-laden bonanzas until now?

"They haven't asked me," he told UPI. "Same reason I don't know why I've just done contemporary stories. It has been 50 movies now. Plus. Somebody will write something about that when I'm dead. Maybe have some theory or something."

Douglas will next be seen opposite Diane Keaton in director Rob Reiner's romantic comedy And So It Goes, due out in theaters July 25.