Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow movie finds a director in Cate Shortland

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

There have been rumblings of a standalone Black Widow movie since Scarlett Johansson first made her appearance as the character in IRON MAN 2, but after quite the wait, Marvel Studios finally got the ball rolling earlier this year when they tapped up-and-coming writer Jac Schaeffer to pen the script. Now, THR reports that the long search for a director has also come to an end as Cate Shortland (LORE) has just signed on to direct the BLACK WIDOW film. Here we go.

The outlet reports that the Marvel Studios met with over 70 or 75 directors during their search, and although a female filmmaker was a priority, they did look at male directors as well. Last month the search had been narrowed down to Cate Shortland, Amma Asante (BELLE), and Maggie Betts (NOVITIATE), with Melanie Laurent (GALVESTON) and Kimberly Pierce (BOYS DON'T CRY) also in the mix. Scarlett Johnansson sparked to Shortland however and pushed for her to get the job after admiring her work on LORE, a drama which told the story of a young woman who leads her siblings through Germany as the Allied army rolled in. The BLACK WIDOW film will reportedly be set before the events of the first AVENGERS movie. Although I'm excited to see what they can do with a BLACK WIDOW film, I can't help but feel as though it's a little too late. I await the opportunity to be proven wrong.

Scarlett Johansson has always loved playing the character, and told Entertainment Tonight before the project moved ahead that she believes the film would be "an opportunity to explore the Widow as a woman who has come into her own and is making independent and active choices for herself, probably for once in her life. You know, she hasn’t always had that possibility. If it fit that criteria, then it would make me want to do it." Black Widow recently appeared as Black Widow in AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, and is set to reprise the role once again for AVENGERS 4 on May 3, 2019.