Ava DuVernay Will Not Be Directing Marvel’s Black Panther

In an interview with Essence magazine, Ava DuVernay confirmed that she will not be directing Marvel’s Black Panther. She had been rumored to direct since May. Those rumors ramped up when Marvel’s Kevin Feige confirmed that he had been meeting with DuVernay to direct, with the fever pitch striking when DuVernay alluded to superheroes in her tweet supporting activist Bree Newsome.

But those rumors were put to rest on Friday. She said:

I’m not signing on to direct Black Panther. I think I’ll just say we had different ideas about what the story would be. Marvel has a certain way of doing things and I think they’re fantastic and a lot of people love what they do. I loved that they reached out to me.

I loved meeting Chadwick and writers and all the Marvel execs. In the end, it comes down to story and perspective. And we just didn’t see eye to eye. Better for me to realize that now than cite creative differences later.

I love the character of Black Panther, the nation of Wakanda and all that that could be visually. I wish them well and will be first in line to see it.

Totally understandable. It’s hard to imagine DuVernay without a specific vision of how she wants to do things. If there are bumps and rockiness along the road even during the courting phase, then it’s probably a good idea this didn’t happen. You can bet we’ll be watching to see what she thinks of the movie after it comes out, though.

No pressure!

(via Comics Alliance)

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Jessica Lachenal

Jessica Lachenal is a writer who doesn’t talk about herself a lot, so she isn’t quite sure how biographical info panels should work. But here we go anyway. She's the Weekend Editor for The Mary Sue, a Contributing Writer for The Bold Italic (thebolditalic.com), and a Staff Writer for Spinning Platters (spinningplatters.com). She's also been featured in Model View Culture and Frontiers LA magazine, and on Autostraddle. She hopes this has been as awkward for you as it has been for her.

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