Marvel Studios’ Black Widow standalone movie has its director.

Cate Shortland, the Australian director perhaps best known for the Nazi drama Lore, has signed on to direct Black Widow, Marvel’s action-adventure project that will star Scarlett Johansson.

The move ends a search that lasted over half a year as Marvel met with over 70 or 75 directors in order to find its ideal candidate. A female filmmaker was the priority even as the search stalled at one point and the studio looked at male directors.

The hunt narrowed in June with Amma Asante (Belle, A United Kingdom) and Maggie Betts (Novitiate) being the finalists with Shortland. Melanie Laurent (Galveston) and Kimberly Pierce (Boys Don’t Cry) were also in the final pool of directors.

Shortland, who hails from Australia and does not have agency representation, had a fan in Johansson, who pushed for the helmer. The actress admired Shortland’s handling of the female lead in Lore, a critically acclaimed 2012 drama that told of a young woman who leads her siblings through Germany as the Allied army rolls in. Her most recent film was Berlin Syndrome, a 2017 thriller that starred Teresa Palmer.

Jac Schaeffer wrote the most recent draft for Widow. She also wrote the upcoming female-centric remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Nasty Women.

Johansson’s Black Widow is reportedly set before the events of the first Avengers movie and sees the actress reprise the Russian spy-turned-super heroine. There is an unconfirmed rumor going around as well that Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier may play a role in the film.

The movie will be Marvel’s second female-centric movie after Captain Marvel, which is due to open March 8, 2019.

Source – THR