Disney Signs ‘Love and Monsters’ Director Michael Matthews to Direct ‘Merlin’
Disney continues to expand its live-action adaptation schedule, now taking on the King Arthur legend and focusing on the famous wizard of the story.
The news got buried underneath the ton of content from DC FanDome on Saturday, but late Friday night, Deadline posted that Michael Matthews, who directed 2020’s Love and Monsters, will helm the live-action project Merlin. According to the report, the movie is still in the very early stages of development.
Love and Monsters‘ crew apparently impressed Disney on several fronts — not only is its director tackling a big live-action Disney movie next, but its screenwriter will also be working for another massive Disney project. Indeed, Matthew Robinson was reported a few months ago to be the co-writer of Patty Jenkins’ Star Wars: Rogue Squadron.
The project will presumably focus mainly on the title character, probably acting as an origin story for King Arthur’s mentor. It is unlikely this will be a remake of The Sword in the Stone, though this would fit into Disney’s trend. They currently have three live-action projects in post-production — Robert Zemeckis’ Pinocchio, starring Tom Hanks as Geppetto, Peter Pan and Wendy, starring Jude Law as Captain Hook (and directed by David Lowery), and The Little Mermaid, from Rob Marshall and starring Halle Bailey as Ariel. The former two are undated, though a 2022 date is assumed, while the latter is slated for a Memorial Day 2023 release.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
