Marvel’s Black Widow movie finds a director
It’s insane that there hasn’t been a Black Widow movie yet. Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor got three each; Scarlett Johansson’s assassin, meanwhile, got a Saturday Night Live sketch. Well, the good news is that a Black Widow film is finally happening, and, per The Hollywood Reporter, the delay might’ve had something to do with finding the right director.
Marvel has landed on one now with Cate Shortland, the Australian director behind Nazi drama Lore and kidnapping drama Berlin Syndrome, but the search apparently found the studio meeting with more than 70 potential directors. The priority, THR reports, was to find a female director, and names like Amma Asante (Belle, A United Kingdom), Maggie Betts (Novitiate), Melanie Laurent (Galveston) and Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry) were among the finalists. Shortland, however, was the favorite of Johansson, who we imagine has more than a little say in the matter.
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Of course, the announcement comes at a fairly unfortunate time, as Johansson is currently at the center of a social media firestorm after taking on the role of a transgender male in Rupert Sanders’ Rub and Tug and defending the choice in the dumbest of ways.
Black Widow’s most recent draft was written by Jac Schaeffer, and will reportedly be set before the events of The Avengers. It will be the second female-focused Marvel film, following Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel, which is slated to open on March 8th.
