Exclusive Interview with the #Antourage | T.I., Michael Pena & David Dastmalchian #AntManEvent

When two seconds into an interview, it feels like you stepped through the doors of an exclusive comedy club, you know you are in for a terrific time and a wild ride!

Michael Pena, David Dastmalchian and T.I., dubbed the #Antourage by Dastmalchian, are all equally hilarious and at ease with each other in real life as they are the ANT-MAN film.  Personally, I think if these three ever went on tour, they’d have sell-out shows in no time!  Their energy, synergy and down-to-earth demeanor enchanted everyone in the room from the second they walked in.  As they are all individually seasoned rock stars, it was truly charming to see how surprised and delighted they were by the huge round of applause we greeted them with.

It’s hard to capture the snap-crackle-fizz and fun of the banter between Pena, T.I. and Dastmalchian adequately in writing.  My one desire truly, for this interview is that I wished we’d be able to capture it on video to share.  The magic is in the interaction but hopefully, you’ll get a glimpse from the interview highlights below of how fun and funny this Antourage crew is!

If you were following our @RuralMoms Twitter coverage prior to the ANT-MAN movie press event, you know David Dastmalchian gave fans a little insight to his character, so naturally, the very first question we had to ask was all about the hair!

Rural Mom:  David, I’d love to know, how long did it take to do the hair?

“Okay really quick, this is great. Yvette Stone you’re seeing right here, she actually did the hair every day. She, she helped create that look for Kurt.  (I was) sitting in the chair for half an hour to 45 minutes.  We got it down. It starts taking a long time, but by the end of the movie like man we nailed it, and the tattoos and everything. My amazing Make-Up Artist Greg Funk did the tattoos, bu  it’s a cool thing when you’re an Actor and get the physical world that’s created for you.  So like the, the wardrobe nailed exactly what I thought about Kurt, the hair (laughs.) And I would come out of hair and make-up and put on my wardrobe and I walk out of my trailer and look in the mirror and I’d be like this is good!” – David Dastmalchian

Once we had the important scoop on Dastmalchian’s hair, the conversation honed in the comedic talent and moments (no spoilers!) in the movie.  But as you’ll see, this talented crew riffs off each other with ease…

Q: So Michael your story telling (in the movie) is hilarious are you like that in real life? 

PENA: “No, I was always like a quiet kid, you know what I mean, to be honest.”

DASTMALCHIAN: “What?!”

PENA : “Yeah. I remember like I got messages on Facebook and I’m like out of all people to be an Actor you’re the guy? Yeah, I’m like hey my best friend’s here from Chicago and he was like-‘Yeah dude. You know he was the quiet kid.’ I was Captain of the Wrestling team and Track Team and I loved sports and stuff. So that’s the only way that I really made friends, but I was like kind of a nerd to be honest, it’s hard to believe.”

T.I. : “You know man me too.”

PENA : “Were you really?”

T.I. : “Hell no.”

(Interject a room full of laughter!)

The entire interview was a wonderful continuous stream of cross-banter as the Antourage shared insights with us into their character roles in the film, expressed appreciation for eachother’s talents and often when off in tangent directions improving the conversation and entertaining a room full of joy-filled bloggers who were rapt and spellbound by the exchange.

As Michael Pena is so different in real life than his character, he shared his inspiration for developing his scene-stealing role as “Luis” in ANT-MAN: 

“I’m imitating this guy, you know I won’t say his name, but he’s in my neighborhood. And I had the blessing of going to prep school and living in the ghetto, you know what I mean? And so like I’d travel an hour in the morning just to get to that school, come back and then all of a sudden it’s like,

‘And how, how did it go man? You want a nickel bag?’

And I’m like, ‘No man, I’m good man. I gotta’ study and stuff.” And he said, ‘But if you don’t want a nickel bag it’s cool.'”

He’s the kind of dude that you always see, you know what I mean? He got a girl pregnant when he was 13. Yeah, which is amazing, but he’s a really great dad when he’s not in jail (laughs.) And like literally he’s the kind of dude it was like,

‘Hey whatcha’ do this weekend?’

And he’s like, ‘Uh I went to jail guy.’

‘What you go to jail for?’

He’s like, ‘Just smokin’ weed.’ …

…So it was like I was waitin’ for a movie to put that character in there because it was odd because he’s like the most optimistic criminal that I’ve ever met in my life. Everybody loves him, but at the same time like you gotta’ be kidding me. So that’s, that’s Luis.”  – Michael Pena

Q : How did all of you guys get all of this project?

“I auditioned in January of 2014 for Sarah Finn, Cast Director for this film, and I got the role description and it’s so different than anything I’ve gotten to do before. My immediate goal was like A) I’m a huge comic geek and I’ve loved comics my whole life and B) I want something that my mom can go to the cinema and watch and not be terrified ‘cause I tend to play some goofy guys. So I, I went after it and I created, created a voice and the character and then she (Sarah Finn) liked it.” – David Dastmalchian

“For me, for me I think when it was first mentioned that there would be an Ant-Man film someone mentioned me in association with it and it got all over the blogs and everywhere. Like, ‘Yo T.I.’s gonna’ be in it.’ And I was like, ‘I have no idea what you’re talkin’ about.'” – T.I.

And… as per I’d come to expect in this crazy-fun conversation, Micheal Pena didn’t get a chance to answer regarding his initial involvement with the film as the conversation swerved off track again, but he did share some wonderful insights that truly sum up the heart of the Antourage:

“The comic is so great and fun for people because not everybody has superpowers, right? But these guys, we’re good at something. It’s just like what do you do with the thing that you’re good at? Are you gonna’ do something good in your life or are you gonna’ do you know what our past is, or our characters? And I love that. I think that’s what makes these films great for audiences too and families.” – Michael Pena

In the real world and in the ANT-MAN film, Pena, Dastmalchian and T.I. all demonstrate that they certainly have a lot of heart and are most definitely using their comedic powers for good! Even thinking about this interview still produces a silly grin on my face. I can’t wait to see to see the ANT-MAN with my family and see their reactions to the phenomenal #Antourage! Certainly hope we’ll continue to see more from this crew in future Marvel universe films, too!