Fortunately, there's now some progress with the much-awaited standalone Marvel film starring Black Widow. Cate Shortland, the Australian filmmaker behind Nazi drama Lore, has signed on as director.
Scarlett Johansson will of course reprise her role as Natalia Alianovna Romanova, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most deadly assassins and a frequent member of The Avengers. She first played the role in 2010's Iron Man 2, then in 2012's first Avengers film, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier after that, followed by 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron, then in Captain America: Civil War the following year. She was last seen in Avengers: Infinity War.
How They Searched For The Director Of 'Black Widow'
The announcement caps off a search that lasted over half a year, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The studio allegedly met with more than 70 directors to find the perfect one who'll helm the standalone film Marvel fans have long been anticipating. A female director was apparently the priority, though at one point the search stalled and the studio looked at male directors.
Signing on a female director was presumably patterned after the highly successful Wonder Woman film last year, which was directed by Patty Jenkins, who is also directing its sequel, Wonder Woman 1984.
Johansson is reportedly a fan of Shortland and pushed for the director. The actress admired Shortland's handling of a female character in the aforementioned Lore, a critically acclaimed 2012 film about a young woman who leads her siblings through Germany at the onset of the Allied Forces.
TiMER director and scribe Jac Schaeffer wrote the latest draft of Black Widow. She also wrote The Hustle, an upcoming female-centric remake of Dirty Little Scoundrels starring Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson.
Now, Only Hawkeye Is Left
Thus far, out of the whole Avengers crew, only Black Widow and Hawkeye don't have their standalone films. This past April, however, it was reported that the writers for Infinity War were working on a script for a standalone Hawkeye film.
A big chunk of Marvel's fans have long been requesting the studio to make a standalone Black Widow film. Why it's taken this long to create it is uncertain, although a Saturday Night Live parody suggests Marvel doesn't know how to write female characters and female-driven storylines. But with Shortland's skill and talent for handling female characters, that should be no problem.
Photo: Gage Skidmore | Flickr
