There has been an assumption since it was reported that Booksmart director Olivia Wilde was hired for an unnamed Marvel film for Sony Pictures, rumored to be Spider-Woman, that Marvel Studios would be involved as a co-producer. Potentially making the film for Sony like they are with the three Spider-Man films starring Tom Holland.
While reaffirming she landed the gig during a chat with the podcast Shut Up Evan hosted by Evan Ross Katz (via Entertainment Weekly), Wilde invoked the name of Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige but stopped short from saying Marvel Studios are directly involved with the project or even confirming its indeed Spider-Woman.
WILDE: “God, listen to me trying to avoid Kevin Feige’s pellet gun.”
Olivia went on to talk about more women being able to bring their own perspectives to the superhero film genre which is has been dominated by male directors/writers.
WILDE: “Look, we are seeing this incredible influx of female directors and storytellers getting to take hold of this genre, of the superhero space, and infuse it with their own perspective. So, not only do I get to tell this story as a director, but I get to develop this story, and that was what made it so incredible for me.”
“I’m just honored to be amongst this wave of women who are showing up and saying ‘we are not only going to step in and try and tell this story like men do, we’re actually going to reframe the stories themselves. And the industry is, as far as I can tell, really supportive of that. There is a sea change and it’s because of these decades of trailblazers who demanded this over and over and over again and it’s finally broken through and I’m very fortunate to be there with it.”
I’m not entirely convinced just yet that is will be another Sony/Marvel co-production as they haven’t come out and made this official. I don’t really understand why they would hide this information after the report of Wilde was directing the film and her confirmation, unless they’re waiting for some event to make the big announcement.
Then again, Jessica Drew the traditional version of Spider-Woman, is a product of HYDRA brainwashing (not unlike The Winter Soldier) with a connection to Captain America villain Ophelia Sarkissian aka Viper (also known as Madame Hydra), who pretended to be Jessica’s birth mother. Jessica also became an Agent of S.W.O.R.D., the cosmic counterpart of S.H.I.E.L.D. that will be introduced in WandaVision and is expected to have a larger role in Nia DaCosta’s Captain Marvel 2.
Drew did not debut in the pages of Spider-Man comic books and means that Marvel Studios has direct access to her.
Even with movies like Venom, Morbius, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Kraven The Hunter you’ll see them interact directly with Marvel Entertainment (still under Kevin Feige’s purview), their liaison branch, does work alongside filmmakers and studio producers at Sony Pictures to make sure the characters are being properly represented to the public.
She may have genuinely spoken with Kevin Feige but it remains to be seen if this was via Marvel Entertainment or Marvel Studios, I’ll be hoping for the latter alongside everyone else.
Olivia Wilde is currently busy directing the New Line Cinema thriller Don’t Worry Darling starring Florence Pugh, Dakota Johnson, Chris Pine, and Harry Styles, which takes in a California desert community during the 1950s.
SOURCE: SHUT UP EVAN
THE RONIN 