Olivia Wilde has been tapped by Sony Pictures to direct a female-centric Marvel film.
Sony Pictures is building its Marvel universe with a focus on female characters. While unconfirmed, it’s expected that the film will be centered on Spider-Woman. The character has been the alter ego of several characters in the Spider-Man timeline over the years such as Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, etc, with Jessica Drew, being the first to sport the costume in the late 1970s.
For the as-yet-untitled project, actress-turned-director Olivia Wilde is teaming up once again with writer Katie Silberman, who she worked with on her critically-acclaimed 2019 directorial debut Booksmart, for what’s set to be a completely revamped concept of Spider-Woman. Rachel O’Connor will serve as executive producer with Amy Pascal producing the film.
The film industryin general is making more of an effort with more and more female filmmakers now getting their shot at directing big-budget comic book movies.Most recently Nia DaCosta landed the Captain Marvel 2 job at Marvel followed by Chloe Zhao who has the upcoming film The Eternals under her belt.
Sony has also been making an effort to diversify the universe with films like Black Cat and Silver Sable currently under development, with Wilde’s project marking the second film based around a female character within Sony’s Marvel universe to land a director after S.J. Clarkson has been tapped to direct a Madame Webb movie.
The studio already has a number of films set in the Spider-Man space in different stages of development, including Tom Hardy’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Jared Leto-starrer Morbius, both of which are expected to hit the screens next year. They are also teaming up with Disney’s Marvel Studios for a third Spider-Man film starring Tom Holland, which is slated to be released in December 2021.
