Black Panther director rumour: Ava DuVernay will not direct the planned movie for Marvel.
Black Panther director rumours: Ava DuVernay out
So, more Black Panther director rumours then. Selma helmer Ava DuVernay will not be directing Marvel’s planned movie, or any potential future Marvel movie, despite what we may have heard otherwise. DuVernay herself was the original of the news in an interview with Essence, where she confirmed that she was approached for the movie, but her and Marvel’s ideas didn’t really line up.
Here’s what she said to Essence: “I’m not signing on to direct Black Panther. I think I’ll just say we had different ideas about what the story would be. Marvel has a certain way of doing things and I think they’re fantastic and a lot of people love what they do. I loved that they reached out to me.”
This isn’t the best of news really. I loved what DuVernay did with Selma and thought that she’d be perfect for Black Panther.
The director continued:
“In the end, it comes down to story and perspective. And we just didn’t see eye to eye. Better for me to realize that now than cite creative differences later … I love the character of Black Panther, the nation of Wakanda and all that that could be visually. I wish them well and will be first in line to see it.”
So that leaves the field wide open doesn’t it? So who will Marvel turn to now? Well, the film has a release date set for November 3rd, 2017, which isn’t that far away, so they’ll probably have to move quick. Obviously, as with everything, we have an opinion, so how about Amma Assante? The British actress, turned director, gave us the outstanding Belle last year, a film that tackles racial issues, and did really well with critics and at the box-office. Assante is however, currently hard at work on A United Kingdom, a film that will star Rosamund Pike and David Oyelowo, and that looks set to go either later this year/ early next year, which pretty much would conflict with anything to do with ‘Panther.’ Now, I’m just throwing this out there, but I think that Assante would be perfect for this, and British directors do have a great track record with Marvel, don’t they?
Obviously, Marvel will have the last say, and I’m sure that they have their ideas to move this forward. Chadwick Boseman is set to star in Black Panther, but will first make an appearance as the character in next year’s Captain America: Civil War, which is still shooting Stateside.
