Marvel’s next film Captain Marvel opens this week and they’re already getting ready to shoot their next female-led feature film with Scarlett Johansson’s solo Black Widow film directed by Cate Shortland.

A new casting rumor from our pals over at ThatHashtagShow suggests that Marvel Studios are now zeroing-in on actresses for that “female Bond” character from the breakdowns previously reported on. They mention that Emma Watson (Beauty and The Beast, Harry Potter franchise) toplines a casting list that also includes other actresses such as Alice Englert, Dar Zuzovsky, and Florence Pugh.

It’s an interesting list and one that we at That Hashtag Show are excited to be able to share with you in this exclusive! Headlining the list is actress Emma Watson. Best known for her role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter franchise, Watson starred as Belle in Disney’s 2017 live-action version of Beauty and the Beast and recently wrapped filming on Little Women. We are told that the idea of Watson landing the role is gaining momentum and that her name is prominent in discussions between director Cate Shortland, Brad Winderbaum and Kevin Feige. Actresses Alice Englert (Beautiful Creatures and the upcoming Netflix series Ratched) and Dar Zuzovsky (Hostages, Neighborhood) recently auditioned for the role and both made a strong impression on the studio. Additionally, Florence Pugh, who will star alongside Watson in Little Women, is also still in the running.

The site also recently reported the studio was considering casting diverse actors for an unnamed villain role. They took a guess at Taskmaster as the possible role with Russian villain Red Guardian seemingly ruled out if this casting information is correct.

The studio is now looking for either a Black British or African actor, 30-45, to portray a “tough, dangerous and mysterious” villain.

Emma Watts certainly is a standout given her awareness from the Harry Potter movies and being part of the success of the billion-dollar box office of Disney’s Beauty and The Beast. Then again, Marvel doesn’t always hire huge names for supporting roles. If it’s an action-heavy role I would assume that they’d want to make sure actresses are comfortable shooting intense action scenes as well, as the film is expected to have some high-stakes action design given that Black Widow doesn’t have superpowers.

HN Entertainment has previously confirmed that production will be taking place at Pinewood Studios UK, the same stage location that Bond 25 will be using in the coming months and that was recently used for Star Wars: Episode IX, which completed production last month. Filming is said to kick-off this June and will likely see various European secondary filming locations.

Although some possible plot details have been making the rounds online the film’s original writer-director David Hayter mentioned recently those are likely outdated versions from his Lionsgate incarnation from a decade ago. I also wouldn’t be so quick to believe that Marvel Studios, known for keeping plot details quiet, would be silly enough to leak a bulk of the plot before casting even started. Collider revealed that screenwriter Ned Benson would be rewriting Jac Schaeffer’s script making it less likely that those early rumored plot details are likely going to be correct.

Kevin Feige also recently dispelled previous rumblings that Black Widow was being considered internally for an R-rating during the press tour for Captain Marvel.

Marvel’s next two releases include Avengers: Endgame on April 26th and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5th.

Marvel Studios has yet to give Black Widow an official release date, but it’s been assumed that it will end up taking the May 1st, 2020 spot that was previously placed aside by Disney for a Marvel Studios film. There had been chatter that was originally being eyed for Guardians of The Galaxy 3 before James Gunn was removed as director.

SOURCE: THAT HASHTAG SHOW

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