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Independent film director Lucrecia Martel was on the shortlist for Black Widow but claims Marvel told her “we will take care” of the action scenes.
Lucrecia Martel, who was on the shortlist to helm Black Widow, claimed she passed on the project because she was given the impression she wasn’t going to be allowed to film the action scenes.
Martel told The Daily Pioneer, an English-language newspaper in India, “I received an email from Marvel for a meeting,” IndieWire reported in 2018. “So I went to the [Marvel 10th Anniversary] reunion. I actually signed this thing where I can’t talk about that reunion.”
Martel continued, “Marvel and other such production houses are trying to involve more female filmmakers …What they told me in the meeting was, ‘We need a female director because we need someone who is mostly concerned with the development of Scarlett Johansson’s character.'” But, Martel added, “They also told me, ‘Don’t worry about the action scenes, we will take care of that.’ I was thinking, ‘Well, I would love to meet Scarlett Johansson but also I would love to make the action sequences.'”
With that, Martel, acclaimed Argentine director of La Ciénaga, The Headless Woman and Zama, dropped out of the running for Black Widow, saying, “Companies are interested in female filmmakers but they still think action scenes are for male directors. The first thing I asked them was maybe if they could change the special effects because there’s so many laser lights. I find them horrible. Also, the soundtrack of Marvel films is quite horrendous. Maybe we disagree on this, but it’s really hard to watch a Marvel film. It’s painful to the ears to watch Marvel films.”
The first solo directing credit on a Marvel film instead went to Cate Shortland, also a director of independent films. Captain Marvel, Marvel’s first film featuring a female lead character, was co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.
Martel’s story has begun circulating following recent remarks from Eternals director Chloé Zhao, who said Marvel was fully supportive of her vision and approach. “From day one, Marvel said, ‘Here are the tools we use. We need your version. We don’t want three different movies; we want your movie,'” Zhao said in a recent interview. “They would be there to help me because I’ve never used these tools.”
Black Widow is now available to stream on Disney+.
Source: The Daily Pioneer via IndieWire
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