MCU’s Black Widow Movie Almost Had an Oscar-Winning Director
Before signing on to direct Eternals, Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao almost helmed a different MCU movie.
Why didn’t Chloé Zhao Direct Black Widow?
Zhao recently spoke to Matt Belloni on The Town podcast to promote her latest film, Hamnet. During the conversation, Belloni brought up Marvel and asked Zhao why she wanted to direct a superhero movie. Zhao revealed that the prospect of directing another Marvel project got her in the door, which eventually led to a conversation about Eternals.
“I went in at first for Black Widow, and then there was a scheduling conflict,” Zhao said. “And then when Nate Moore, my producer for Eternals, showed me the treatment, I went, Oh, wow. I get to have all these immortals, like a Greek play, to discuss humanity. And then I get to create monsters and space gods, right?”
Cate Shortland went on to direct Black Widow. Meanwhile, allegorical storytelling and mythology were two components of Eternals that drew Zhao to the MCU.
“Eternals, at its heart, is a story about a pantheon of gods having discussions about the nature of humanity and whether we are worth surviving,” Zhao explained. “It was my way of trying to process all the questions I was having in those ten years of making the first three films.”
Eternals depicted a race of immortal beings who have protected Earth for thousands of years. After centuries of hiding, the Eternals must reunite to battle the villainous Deviants. Eternals starred Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, and Angelina Jolie.
Released in November 2021, Eternals received mixed reviews. While many critics praised Zhao’s ambition, the characters, pacing, and screenplay were heavily criticized. It’s the second-lowest-rated MCU movie on Rotten Tomatoes (47%). Only Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has a lower score (46%).
Originally reported by Dan Girolamo for SuperHeroHype.
Source: Comingsoon.net