Marvel Studios is making headway with their female superhero-led movies. After the phenomenal success that was DC’s ‘Wonder Woman’ last year, and in the wake of the news that Marvel’s first female superhero-led movie, ‘Captain Marvel’, has wrapped filming, a director has been found for their loooong in the works ‘Black Widow’ stand-alone movie.
Marvel met with over 70 potential directors and searched for over half a year to find the right fit for the project. Their priority was to find a female director.
In the end, they chose Cate Shortland, an Australian filmmaker whose films include Nazi drama ‘Lore’, thriller ‘Berlin Syndrome’ and ‘Somersault.’
The shortlist had, by June, included Amma Asante (‘Belle,’ ‘A United Kingdom’) and Maggie Betts (‘Novitiate’) as well as Shortland. Melanie Laurent (‘Galveston’) and Kimberly Peirce (‘Boys Don't Cry’) were also considered.
Reportedly, Scarlett Johansson, who has played Black Widow in all the MCU movies so far and will play her again for the solo movie, is a fan of Shortland and really pushed for the director, being a fan of how she handled the female lead in ‘Lore.’
As reported in January, Jac Schaffer, who also wrote the upcoming female-led remake of ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’, now titled ‘The Hustle’ (in a move not unlike ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ female-centric spin-off, ‘Ocean’s 8’), wrote the most recent draft for ‘Black Widow.’
The new film is reportedly a prequel, set before the events of the first ‘Avengers’ movie and sees how the titular character came to be the Russian spy turned superheroine we know and love her to be.
No release date yet but Marvel’s first female-focussed film ‘Captain Marvel’ is set to open on March 8th, 2019. Marvel’s next movie, ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’, hits Irish cinemas on August 3rd.
