Olivia Wilde has been tapped by Sony Pictures to direct a female centric Marvel project. Most of us know Olivia as an actress who also did some Broadway work but moved into the director’s chair for last year’s coming of age movie Booksmart. Since then she signed on to direct the psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling which started a bidding war and was eventually sold to New Line Cinema.
Wilde almost passed on this Marvel project because she became quite busy signing on to direct other films but she couldn’t miss this opportunity to develop her own female superhero. It is rumored that the secret project will be based on the Spider-woman character. Below are some highlights on the report from Deadline.
The Spider-Woman character has actually been the alter ego of several characters in the Spider-Man timeline over the years including Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson and Jessica Drew, who was the first to sport the costume in the late 1970s. Since the concept is being completely revamped by Wilde, it’s unknown the direction the studio will go with her.
The project has been a high priority since the top of the year and Wilde came close to passing on it as her dance card has begun to fill up quite quickly. At the end of the day, the idea of having a chance to launch her own female superhero was too hard to pass up, and she eventually came around to fully committing to the project.
This marks the second film based around a female character in Sony’s universe of Marvel characters to land a director after S.J. Clarkson was tapped to direct a Madame Webb movie. Sony is also developing Black Cat and Silver Sable movies and is clearly making the effort to diversify the universe.
Around the industry, more and more female filmmakers are getting their shot at directing big-budget comic book movies. Nia DaCosta most recently landed the Captain Marvel 2 job at Marvel and along with Wilde and Clarkson will follow in the footsteps of Patty Jenkins, Cathy Yan and Chloe Zhao, the latter who has the upcoming The Eternals.
Like I’ve been saying, 2020 is the year of the woman. With Nia DaCosta signing on to direct the Captain Marvel sequel and now Olivia, the superhero and action genres are going to be lit the next few years. I haven’t seen Booksmart yet but I will watch it over the weekend. In fact, I didn’t even know Olivia had started directing but I am looking forward to this secret project. As a superhero and action film geek I am super stoked that these big studios are starting to sign on women to direct and produce these big budget films. It is about damn time. I feel they were missing out on half the voices in the world by not entrusting women with these opportunities.
Not only are women directing these big action films but they are now starting to be centered in them and that too is exciting. Of course I will be stalking the MCU and Sony twitter accounts for the announcement on what the project is. Olivia posted a hilarious tweet letting us know that she won’t be spilling the tea. I guess we will have to wait to find out like we have to wait until next year to see Patty Jenkin’s Wonder Woman 84, but I am cool with that. If nothing else, Rona has taught me patience. I swear.
Also, I don’t know much about Spider-Woman, but if the rumors are true it will be pretty cool to see a woman don the costume. It should be interesting to see what they do with the character and how she fits into the MCU, but for the love of puppies don’t make her into a sidekick, that would be very annoying.
Me, answering all your Marvel questions: pic.twitter.com/zaJWskDsHK
— olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) August 20, 2020
Photos credit: Backgrid and Avalon.red
It’s Sony Marvel and not part of the MCU. Sony will put buckets of money into it and promote it heavily because it is trying to build its Marvel brand beyond Spider-Man, but there won’t be any crossover with MCU characters. Sony has to develop its own universe with the characters it has under license.
And it can’t be Spider-Woman as she is Marvel owned. Jessica Drew had nothing to do with the Spiderverse she was made by her father and the High Evolutionary in Thor in the fake country of Trasnia .
Deadline obviously never followed the charts of the takeover and where the characters all went
I did know they were separate and should have made that clear. I guess I was saying I would like to see how whatever the project is fits into the overall Marvel comic centered films, I actually like Venom tho but the actual MCU produce the better movies.. We shall see what happens… but why do have to wait?! *tears*
This is exciting for her! I adored Booksmart and thought she did a great job with it. I don’t have much interest in Sony’s Marvel universe at this point, but I’m sure I will check this out.
Does the Sony Marvel vs MCU factor change how this may be approached and marketed?
It will be approached and marketed like the Andrew Garfield/Tobey Maquire Spider-Man and Tom Hardy’s Venom, all Sony Marvel.
Think Venom as opposed to the Tom Holland Spider-Man. It’s definitely different.
I’m cautiously optimistic but they tried developing that Silver and Black thing with Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Old Guard) and it’s took so long she ended up leaving…and still no movie. These announcements are nice but ultimately don’t mean much for a very long time.
I really enjoyed Booksmart.
I’m glad Olivia is directing more, that’s great. I hope she is insisting on a diverse crew as well.
You are going to LOVE Booksmart! Once I watched it I was irritated at myself for waiting so long. It’s funny and well-acted. She did a wonderful job with it! It should have been a much bigger hit.
I am going to have to watch this, I completely forgot about this film.
I like her and while i usually have zero interest in super hero movies (they are mostly b-o-r-i-n-g to me), i have loved the women-centered ones.
This is her 4th movie scheduled to directed by her. I’m glad Hollywood trusting her that much, although she really earned it with Booksmart.
A little sad that this is the Sony side and not the normal Marvel side. The only Sony-Marvel movie acknowledged by the MCU is Spider-Man. What else does Sony even own the rights to?