‘Black Widow’ Finds Director in Cate Shortland
Marvel’s long-awaited Black Widow spin-off has finally found its director in Cate Shortland (Somersault, Lore, Berlin Syndrome).
The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that Australian director Cate Shortland has been selected to tackle a superhero movie starring Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanov, who has long been a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sources are indicating that the movie will be a prequel set before any of the character’s prior appearances (which include Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok, and Avengers: Infinity War, and next year’s still-untitled Avengers 4) and will thusly not spoil the character’s fate as of the end of Phase 3.
Because of the movie is set before most of the other films in the franchise, it is speculated that either (or both) The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) could cross paths with Black Widow, as both characters are described as having a shared past with the character. Furthermore, the movie’s nature as a prequel seems to indicate that Marvel may be looking to make the movie a one-off instead of a potential franchise, which is the standard for the company at this time. In spite of this, the company has noted that they want to put more female characters in the spotlight, with Black Widow being a priority due to her prominence in the setting.
Marvel met with 70 directors on the project – the majority of whom were women, a studio priority (though some men were considered) – with Amma Asante (Belle, A United Kingdom), Maggie Betts (Novitiate), Melanie Laurent (Galveston), and Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry) being the runners-up to Shortland. Johansson is said to be a fan of the director’s previous work, most notably Lore. The script is being written by Jac Schaeffer, writer behind 2009’s TiMER and this year’s The Hustle. It is speculated that the film will be ready for release by 2020, although there is not yet confirmation on this point from Marvel Studios.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
