Though she was falsely reported as having signed on to direct Marvel’s first superhero movie focused entirely on a Black character, Selma director Ava DuVernay passed on the opportunity in early July. At the time, the critically-acclaimed filmmaker noted that she “just didn’t see eye to eye” with Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios, and that it was “better for [her] to realize that now than cite creative differences later.” As final as these words seemed at the time, however, DuVernay had more to say about Black Panther.
During her closing keynote at the 2015 BlogHer conference in New York, DuVernay joked, “It was really an enlightened day in terms of the quality of journalism.” This, of course, was a light jab at the early reports of her having accepted the director’s chair for the film. Still, according to the Hollywood Reporter, she had more to say:
When asked about meeting repeatedly with Marvel head Kevin Feig for the opportunity, DuVernay didn’t get excited about it until she did her research on the character and the potential cultural impact. “For me, it was a process of trying to figure out, are these people I want to go to bed with? Because it’s really a marriage, and for this, it would be three years. It’d be three years of not doing other things that are important to me. So it was a question of, is this important enough for me to do?”
On the one hand, these comments merely add slight linguistic flourishes to her initial announcement’s “just didn’t see eye to eye” shtick. However, considering the studio’s history with directors, good and bad, it’s probably a good thing DuVernay didn’t ignore her own concerns and sign on regardless.
Yes, her name and vision probably would have made for an excellent Black Panther movie, but at what cost to herself (and to the film’s overall quality)?
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
