Last night, some exciting Marvel Studios news arrived in the form of Oscar-winner Brie Larson being the favorite to play Captain Marvel, who will lead her own film in what is poised to be the studio’s first female-led superhero movie. Larson would be a huge get for Captain Marvel as the first Oscar winner to lead a Marvel Studios movie, and the actress seems to have a willingness to navigate both blockbuster and indie material post-Oscar win with upcoming roles that range from Kong: Skull Island to a reunion with her Short Term 12 director Destin Daniel Cretton for the drama The Glass Castle.
But while casting Captain Marvel is a necessity for the studio given that the character is presumed to first debut in Avengers: Infinity War, which starts filming at the end of this year, the studio is simultaneously on the hunt for a director for the Captain Marvel movie. And buried in THR’s story on Larson’s casting is the mention of two filmmakers who have surfaced as potential contenders: Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) and Niki Caro (Whale Rider).
Marvel is clearly looking to find a female filmmaker to bring this female-driven superhero movie to life, and Kent and Caro are both swell choices. Kent’s horror film The Babadook was a breakout hit of 2014 and showed tremendous promise as a director with a knack for character, while Caro has a solid filmography dating back to her 2002 breakout Whale Rider and including the Charlize Theron-fronted North Country and last year’s sports drama McFarland, USA. Caro is currently in post-production on an adaptation of the bestselling novel The Zookeeper’s Wife starring Jessica Chastain and is developing a biopic of opera singer Maria Callas starring Noomi Rapace.
Whether Kent or Caro end up directing Captain Marvel is unclear, but the mere mention of them as candidates gives us an idea of the kind of filmmaker Marvel Studios is looking for with Captain Marvel. The studio set Inside Out co-writer Meg LeFauve and Guardians of the Galaxy co-writer Nicole Perlman to begin work on the script over a year ago, so the wheels have been in motion on Captain Marvel for quite a while. And now that they’re zeroing in on a star, we should be hearing more updates on the movie soon—although the film’s March 8, 2019 release date is still a ways off.
What do you think, folks? Would you be happy with Kent or Caro as the director of Captain Marvel? Who else would be a solid contender to direct? Lorene Scafaria (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World)? Catherine Hardwick (Twlight)? Amma Asante (Belle)? Susanne Bier (The Night Manager)? Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body)? Sound off in the comments below.
