‘Zama’ Director Lucrecia Martel Talks Being Approached For Marvel Studios’ ‘Black Widow’ Film

Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel is probably not the first name you’d think of when deciding which directors should take a stab at a Marvel Studios film. Though her feature films are often critically-acclaimed, with her latest, “Zama” earning quite a bit of love upon its debut in 2017, Martel isn’t your prototypical up-and-coming director that Marvel snatches up and puts in charge of a $200 million blockbuster. However, according to the filmmaker, the studio was considering it.

This year, Marvel Studios held a secretive (but highly-publicized) hiring process to find the director of the upcoming (but unannounced) “Black Widow” standalone film, starring Scarlett Johansson. It was a widely known fact that Marvel was really only considering female filmmakers for the job, as the studio has been known to hire mostly…err, only male filmmakers for the almost two-dozen previous films (the first female filmmaker comes next year when Anna Boden, along with co-director Ryan Fleck, release “Captain Marvel”).

READ MORE: Scarlett Johansson Finally Catches Up With The Other Avengers With Massive ‘Black Widow’ Payday

And during this search, one of the filmmakers that was part of the process was none other than Martel. During a new interview with Daily Pioneer, the filmmaker discusses the process and, in doing so, probably gives us a good reason why she wasn’t selected.

“I received an e-mail from Marvel for a meeting. Because they were looking for directors for ‘Black Widow’. So I went to the reunion. I actually signed this thing where I can’t talk about that reunion. Marvel and other such production houses are trying to involve more female filmmakers,” Martel said.

She continued, “I do believe another female director is making the movie (now). What they told me in the meeting was ‘we need a female director because we need someone who is mostly concerned with the development of Scarlett Johansson’s character.’”

READ MORE: ‘Black Widow’ Standalone Film Finds A Director & Is Reportedly A Prequel

However, when it came to the discussion itself, Martel reveals her hesitations for accepting the project. “They also told me ‘don’t worry about the action scenes, we will take care of that.’ I was thinking, well I would love to meet Scarlett Johansson but also I would love to make the action sequences,” Martel said.

The action scene comment seems to be the driving force behind Martel’s disinterest in the film, as she sees that as a bit of sexism. However, she also voices some other concerns about Marvel Studios’ filmography, and if this is the same criticism that she voiced in the meetings, it’s clear that Martel’s honesty might have been her downfall. (That being said, she brings up some good, valid points.)

“Companies are interested in female filmmakers but they still think action scenes are for male directors. The first thing I asked them was maybe if they could change the special effects because there’s so many laser lights… I find them horrible. Also the soundtrack of Marvel films is quite horrendous. Maybe we disagree on this but it’s really hard to watch a Marvel film. It’s painful to the ears to watch Marvel films,” she said.

READ MORE: Watch Acclaimed Filmmaker Lucrecia Martel’s Beautiful ‘Fantasmas’ Music Video For Julieta Laso

To be fair, we’ve heard the action scene comment quite a bit before, with young directors being hired and Marvel Studios handing over much of the action to stunt coordinators and effects wizards that whip up the fight scenes that fans have come to know and love. It’s how directors like Taika Waititi, the Russo Brothers, and Jon Watts are able to make these massive action spectacle films with only limited experience behind the camera.

However, it’s almost a shame that Martel was passed over for the job. The “Black Widow” directing gig would eventually be given to filmmaker Cate Shortland.

There’s no official release date for “Black Widow” but many are speculating it will be one of several Marvel Studios films hitting theaters in 2020.