Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Actress Katy O’Brian Unpacks the Film Ahead of its Blu-Ray/DVD Release

We haven’t seen the last of Ant-Man, folks. Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD May 16. The third film in the Ant-Man saga follows Scott, Hope, Hank, Janet, and Cassie on a dangerous adventure deep into the Quantum Realm, where they face off against the all-powerful Kang the Conqueror.

The film, which stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Douglas, Kathryn Newton, Katy O’Brian, Jonathan Majors, and Bill Murray, is bound to generate more interest this spring with this Blu-ray/DVD launch. Par for the Marvel course, the behemoth studio is releasing a bevy of bonus content, including deleted scenes, an audio commentary by director Peyton Reed and writer Jeff Loveness, and even a gag reel. Fun. There’s more.

Bonus featurettes include Rudd, Lilly, and Pfeiffer discussing the complex layers of the heroic family on screen. Fans will also learn how Majors (Kang the Conquerer), Murray (Lord Krylar), and Corey Stoll (Modok) added nuance to their roles as villains. There’s more 411 on how Kang brings a Thanos-level threat to the larger MCU. Expect deleted Scenes, too, of course, one that involves drinking the “ooze,” another about Veb’s excitement over acquiring holes.

Despite enormous pressure at the box office to topple previous outings, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania garnered great reviews from fans. It was also a thrill for Katy O’Brian (The Mandalorian), who offered a fierce take on the character Jentorra, a staunch protector of the Quantum Realm. Check out the clip below and learn more about O’Brian’s experience on the film in the MovieWeb interview that follows.

A Kick-Ass Thrill Ride, Ant-Man Style

MovieWeb: Great to see you in this. Congratulations. There’s a lot of excitement about the Blu-ray/DVD launch. What was one trippy thing you recall during filming?

Katy O’Brian: So much, but there was a moment where William Jackson Harper [Quaz] is reading Paul Rudd’s mind [in the movie]. He’s supposed to say, “She’s disappointed in you.” And Peyton Reed, the director, had him say that, like 400 different ways. There was a certain point where we thought he was just messing with him. It was insane. And we were all just like, “Are you serious?” He’s like, “Okay, now this time, say it as if she’s maybe disappointed in you. But also, maybe she loves you, you know.” It’s just like, over and over and over again. After a while, we’re just like, “Okay, this isn’t actually happening.” And I’m trying to stay in character, like, stay super serious. It was pretty absurd. You had to be there, but it was funny.

MW: Wild. I know that a lot of times, you were getting new material in the script. Can you talk about that, and also those epic fight scenes?

O’Brian: I was getting new pages even on the last day. But the fight scenes were so interesting, because we go into the training room, and we practiced all these different scenes and came up with different options. Then, the day of, it would be, “Let’s just try something new.” So, we would scrap anything that we’d worked on, and basically start from scratch. There were times when I didn’t even know I was going to have a fight scene, and I’d show up, and they’d be like, “Alright, we’re going to learn one right now.” I don’t think that was difficult though. As an actor, you have to go with the flow. And as a martial artist, it’s something I absolutely love doing — memorizing the choreography or coming up with fight scenes.

MW: Was there one thing that was most challenging?

Katy O’Brian: The hardest one was at the very end of the movie. I had to throw my spear, but they reminded me that apparently there’s a professional way to throw a spear. I didn’t know that. Somebody had to actually teach me, but the problem is it was right-handed. I’m left-handed, so it was just this whole thing. I felt like an idiot trying to throw this thing.

Lessons Learned and Being Part of Marvel

MW: What were some things you learned from the other actors here?

Katy O’Brian: Well, I never got to work with Michelle Pfeiffer, which I’m so sad about. I was really excited to find out that our characters had a history, and that I could get to work with her, but I never got to meet her until the premiere. But I didn’t really sit around and ask for advice, necessarily. But when talking to Kathryn Newton — I think she asked a lot of advice — one thing that Paul Rudd told her, which was pretty profound, was that whenever he’s looking at a project, he really thinks about, “What can I contribute to this project? And will I add anything to the project more specifically?” I’ve noticed that a lot lately when reading new scripts, thinking, “Am I really the right person for this? Can I add something that no one else can?” And sometimes that’s the easiest way to answer whether you’ll take something or not.

MW: What are your thoughts on being part of that part of the Marvel Universe moving forward?

Katy O’Brian: I would love to come back. Spoiler alert, I’m alive. So, unless the ants eat me, or whatever, afterward, but yes, it would be wonderful. But I never know. Even with Star Wars, it’s always a kind of last minute thing.

MW: Speaking of… What is it like for you being part of two huge franchises — Marvel and Star Wars? You play sneaky Comms Officer Elia Kane in The Mandalorian.

O’Brian: It just doesn’t feel real. And they do a really good job of not making it feel intimidating, at least on the production side of things. So far, every set that I’ve worked on in Star Wars or Marvel has been very welcoming. They’ve made everything very easy. Then there’s this whole thing where you’re in the episode, and fans are going to love it or hate it. That’s probably the hardest part — the feedback that you might get, positive or not.

O’Brian: But at the end of the day, you know, I didn’t write it. I just did the best I could and trust the world the writers are creating. At the end of the day, it’s really just taking responsibility for your character, and doing the best job you can do to service the story and service the ‘universe.’

MW: Before you were an actor, you were once a cop. How did that experience inform you as an actor? What did you take away from law enforcement that helped your acting career?

Katy O’Brian: I think I would have been really naive had I not done that first. I was on the crisis intervention team. We did psychiatric calls. So, you get to see a lot of humanity that way. It really taught me to read people to listen really well. And to be able to really hear what people were saying, even if they weren’t outright saying it, which is I think one of the biggest fundamentals of acting — just really being able to understand humans. To understand motivations. To understand how to answer a call, essentially. You don’t get other places like that where you have to listen like your life depends on it, you know?

Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD May 16.