‘Thunderbolts’ Hires ‘Beef’ Creator Lee Sung Jin To Rewrite Script
The Thunderbolts team, as Kevin Feige announced it during D23 in 2022.
Marvel Studios’ upcoming Thunderbolts movie has added a new writer, as Variety reports that Beef creator and lead writer Lee Sung Jin will be rewriting the original script by Black Widow‘s Eric Pearson.
The news came from an interview they had with him concerning his upcoming 10-episode Netflix series Beef, which stars Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, and which has Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier helm six episodes. Said Lee to Variety in an interview:
“I’m rewriting it. It’s the whole squad again. Jake asked me if I would come on board. I probably should have taken a break, but there’s a lot of themes and exciting things about the movie that I couldn’t help but sign on.
It’s truly an honor to be part of a Marvel thing, but it is very different. One, it’s not my project, it’s Jake’s. It’s such a large scope and scale that the type of writing is very different. At the same time, the process feels the same, I’m still talking to Jake every day. … I think once you find the squad of people you love and trust and are so talented, you do everything you can to keep working with them.”
It’s unknown the extent of Lee’s rewrites, but at this point, it’s probably not a page-one situation. Our hope is that he is simply polishing the story by Pearson, and we expect in the end for both of them to receive co-writing credits on the feature. It’s also unknown if this affects production in any way. Filming was supposed to begin within the next few weeks.
It’s not unheard of for a major production to be having additional passes on the script even this late in the game, and even though it’s not a bad sign necessarily, it’s definitely not a good sign either. Marvel is rethinking its entire lineup of projects, and recent shakeups at the studio may indicate that they should be more serious than ever before if they want to keep the boat afloat. If Lee was simply brought on to polish some dialogue or make the story a bit more cohesive, then we shouldn’t have much to worry about; but if they are dubious about the state the script was in, then we may have a problem.
The project marks a reunion between Lee, Schreier, and also star Steven Yeun, who is rumored to be playing The Sentry in the upcoming film plus a tie-in Special Presentation that would be filmed during principal photography, akin to the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. While this bit hasn’t been confirmed, in an interview with Total Film Magazine, Yeun did say that he is, indeed, part of the new film:
“I feel good. I feel excited. I feel like a new challenge. I feel blessed to be able to play in a place that reaches so many people. I got to touch that on Walking Dead. It feels exciting to get another chance to connect with people in another way.”
Thunderbolts is currently scheduled for a July 26, 2024, release date. The announced cast includes Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Val, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost (after recently shooting down rumors that she is not a part of the movie anymore), David Harbour as Red Guardian, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan as the Winter Soldier, Wyatt Russell as US Agent, and Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster. The Bear‘s Ayo Edebiri is also reportedly part of the ensemble, and Harrison Ford as Thunderbolt Ross is very much expected to be a part of it too.
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.
