Collider has reported that the ‘Black Widow’ solo movie, starring Scarlett Johansson, will be receiving a rewrite from Ned Benson.
It is said that Marvel executives were drawn to Benson because of his ‘The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby’ trilogy. He was both the writer and director of all three installments: ‘Him,’ ‘Her’ and ‘Them.’ It was originally meant to be one film, ‘Him,’ and that screenplay got onto the Black List. However, Jessica Chastain convinced Benson to write a second script titled ‘Her’ from Eleanor’s perspective. The rest is history, as ‘Her’ has the highest praise of the trilogy.
Theory time:
Jeff Sneider also theorizes that Johansson got Beson to join ‘Black Widow’ due to Benson’s next project, an adaptation of the article ‘My Aryan Princess’ for Pascal Pictures. With that said, Johansson is supposedly Pascal’s first choice to lead, which means she could have seen his work, hence the theory Sneider has. It seems Johansson pushed Marvel to hire Shortland in the first place, so there could be some weight to this line of thought, but nothing is confirmed.
What we know for sure:
Cate Shortland (‘Lore,’ ‘Berlin Syndrome’) will direct. The previous draft of the screenplay is from Jac Schaeffer (‘Captain Marvel,’ ‘Vision and Scarlet Witch’). Schaeffer wrote the upcoming ‘The Hustle,’ a remake of ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,’ starring Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson.
Moreover, ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ cinematographer Rob Hardy is part of the crew. Seven-time ‘Harry Potter’ costume designer Jany Temime is on board as well. ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ art director Jim Barr joined just this week.
Additionally, there is the rumor suggesting that Marvel is considering making ‘Black Widow’ an R-rated feature film.
Further, casting should be soon, and That Hashtag Show revealed some of the character breakdowns.
Filming was seemingly going to start February 28, but now it seems like it will begin sometime in June in the United Kingdom. Other shooting locations could include Croatia and Miami, Florida.
Marvel Studios has yet to officially announce the release date. However, there is an assumption it will take the May 1st, 2020 spot previously slated by Disney.
Source: Collider