Cate Shortland to Direct Black Widow

After interviewing over 70 potential directors, Marvel Studios has made their choice to helm the Black Widow movie. As I anticipated earlier this year, Australian director Cate Shortland has been tapped to direct the solo film, said to be a prequel taking place before the first Avengers movie.

Shortland has been the favorite for a while now. Scarlett Johansson has been pushing for her to be the choice and Marvel likes her credentials. Her selection gives us an idea of what kind of movie this is likely to be.

Shortland’s major projects to this point have been the Nazi film Lore and and the psychological horror Berlin Syndrome. Most of her films have been of the low budget drama variety, so that may give us an idea of the direction this film may take. Johansson has said she wanted Black Widow to be something different; we haven’t had a dramatic film in the MCU so perhaps this will be our first foray into that.

I’d like to see a lower budget, gritty spy thriller. Grittier and filled with more emotional drama than Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but closer to that film than any of the other previous MCU installments. Shortland is a great choice to bring that vision home.