In the wake of Avengers: Infinity War‘s box office domination, Marvel finally seems ready to pull the trigger on a Black Widow standalone feature. The studio has been quietly interviewing female directors for the project, with Deniz Gamze Erguven (Mustang), Chloe Zhao (The Rider), and Amma Asante (A United Kingdom) are among the women considered. Maggie Betts (Novitiate) and Angela Robinson (Professor Marston and the Wonder Women) have also been mentioned as potential directors. In January, it was reported that Marvel had hired Jac Schaeffer, best known for her delightful indie film TiMER, to write the script.
This would be the second female director hired by Marvel, who brought on creative duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson) for the upcoming Captain Marvel, film which is set to be released in 2019. Marvel’s previous twenty films have all been helmed by male directors, including the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp, which features Marvel’s first female lead, albeit still alongside a lead male hero.
Johansson herself is ready for Black Widow to have her own film. In an interview on The Ellen Degeneres Show, she said, “I think there’s room for it. The only way to do it was if it was something we’d never seen before that was groundbreaking and incredibly badass. But I think if anything could make that happen, my boss Kevin Feige could. He’s a visionary.”
Marvel has experienced lots of success by hiring more indie directors, most recently with Ryan Coogler’s phenomenal Black Panther and Taikia Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok. Since the studio is virtually bulletproof at the box office, they have been working toward expanding their artistic range and creating some of their most successful films to date. Hopefully, whoever they hire for the standalone Black Widow film will bring the same sensibilities to this iconic character.
This news also comes on the heels of Warner Bros. announcement that they have hired Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs) for the upcoming Harley Quinn/Birds of Prey spin-off film. Warner Bros. experienced massive critical and commercial success with its first superhero movie helmed by a woman, Wonder Woman, which was directed by Patty Jenkins.
(via The Hollywood Reporter, image: Marvel Entertainment)
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