Olivia Wilde has reportedly signed on to direct a female-centric Marvel movie for Sony Pictures, with the character most likely — but not confirmed — to be Spider-Woman. Wilde is said to “completely revamp” the concept and hence, it’s unclear which Spider-Woman character — amongst Jessica Drew, Julia Carpenter, Mary Jane Watson, or Gwen Stacy — she will land on for her movie, if any. Best known for directing the coming-of-age comedy Booksmart, Wilde will work off a script by the movie’s co-writer Katie Silberman. Amy Pascal is set to be the producer, with Rachel O’Connor as executive producer.
Deadline was first to bring word of Wilde joining Sony’s Marvel universe with a movie on a female character, and noted that it was “expected” to be Spider-Woman. Variety confirmed Wilde’s franchise-joining shortly after. Sony Pictures hasn’t offered a comment yet. Deadline also noted that the female-centric Sony-Marvel movie has been a “high priority” for the studio, and though Wilde nearly turned down the offer, she eventually accepted because getting a shot at her own female superhero movie “was too hard to pass up.”
Wilde made her directorial debut with last year’s Booksmart, after being an actress for nearly 16 years. Her biggest sci-fi movie role to date was the female lead Quorra in the 2010 sci-fi reboot Tron: Legacy. On TV, she is best known for playing Remy “Thirteen” Hadley on the medical drama House between 2007 and 2012. Wilde’s other credits include Conversations with Other Women, Cowboys & Aliens, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, and The Lazarus Effect.
Her upcoming directorial ventures include the psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling, in which she will also star and has also been written by Silberman, the biopic Perfect about American gymnast Kerri Strug, and an untitled Christmas buddy comedy film for Universal Pictures, that also involves Silberman and Pascal. Wilde is expected to begin work on the Spider-Woman movie after the Universal film.
For Sony Pictures, this would be the second female-centric Marvel movie to hire a woman director, after S.J. Clarkson (2018’s Collateral, The Defenders) was reportedly hired back in May to direct a Madame Web movie. Sony has long been developing films centred on Black Cat and Silver Sable too, but there has been no news on them for a while now. There’s also a female-centric Into the Spider-Verse spin-off called Spider-Women in the works that is said to have Lauren Montgomery and Bek Smith as directors.
The Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters (SPUMC) — a real mouthful, but that’s how it’s officially known — has the Jared Leto-led Morbius next up in March 2021, followed by the Venom sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage, starring Tom Hardy and Woody Harrelson, in June 2021.
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