While Marvel Studios won't be the first to have a female superhero movie made by a female director in the modern era of comic book movies, as that honor belongs to Patty Jenkins for Wonder Woman, they do have plans to make that happen in the relatively near future. We already know that Oscar winner Brie Larson will be playing the title role in Captain Marvel, now, all eyes are on who is going to direct. As expected, Marvel is definitely looking to go with a female Captain Marvel director, and they reportedly have their initial shortlist.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel has narrowed their search to three top choices; Niki Caro, Lesli Linka Glatter and Lorene Scafaria. That doesn't mean that the studio is ready to make an announcement soon, as the report notes sources are claiming Marvel is taking their time, and being very deliberate. According to the report, Marvel will be giving a treatment and documents to the directors, and they will prepare a detailed presentation for Captain Marvel.
The report also notes that other names very well may surface on this shortlist before a decision is ultimately made. Other names that were considered included The Babadook director Jennifer Kent, as well as Kung Fu Panda 2 director Jennifer Yuh. Marvel is clearly leaving no stone unturned in their search for a director for Captain Marvel. Punisher: War Zone director Lexi Alexander stated on Twitter last month that Marvel had even looked at Tank Girl director Rachel Talalay, who has been largely relegated to directing TV ever since the disaster that was Tank Girl.
The three choices that were named by THR all have very different sensibilities and backgrounds, so it is a bit hard to get a sense of the direction that Kevin Feige and Co. are looking to go with on the Captain Marvel movie. The common thread does simply seem to be someone with talent, promise and who is also female. Niki Caro is best known for her 2002 Oscar nominated drama Whale Rider, who also directed Jessica Chastain in the upcoming The Zookeeper's Wife. Lorene Scafaria is a writer/director who got her start writing Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and got some indie cred and acclaim for her feature Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. Then there is Lesli Linka Glatter, who is primarily a TV director, having directed a ton of episodes of Homeland, as well as episodes of The Newsroom, Justified and The Walking Dead. Far and away, Glatter does have the most experience overall.
Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Meg LeFauve (Inside Out) are writing the script for Captain Marvel, but we don't know much about the story yet. Carol Danvers, a.k.a. Captain Marvel, first debuted in 1968's "Marvel Super-Heroes" #13. She was a U.S. Air Force security chief who is transformed into Captain Marvel, after an explosion that involved Kree technology. It has been said that Marvel will be changing her backstory for the movie, though, so that will all likely change. Captain Marvel has superhuman strength and the ability to fly, which is sort of the standard set of powers one often associates with a superhero. Captain Marvel is set to debut on March 8, 2019. We will be sure to keep you up to date on any new information as it becomes available.