Olivia Wilde to Direct Spider-Woman

Movies

Olivia Wilde is capitalizing on her book smarts. A Deadline exclusive says that the actress and budding filmmaker will be directing a female-led Marvel movie for Sony, and it’s likely Spider-Woman. Katie Silberman will write the film, and Amy Pascal will produce it. Sony has a deal in place to share Spider-Man, Marvel Comics’ flagship hero, with Disney and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but they’re also developing their own mini-Marvel universe using some of Spidey’s supporting characters. The success of Venom in 2018 has given Sony the juice to pursue this in earnest, with Morbius scheduled to release in March of next year, and a Venom sequel, a Madame Web(!) movie in the works, and a Black Cat and Silver Sable girl power team-up somewhere along the development trail. Nobody seems to know if this Spidey-less Spidey-verse is connected to the MCU, but it sure seems to limit their future Spider-Man stories.

Okay, then. I can’t imagine this announcement garnering much excitement. Olivia Wilde hasn’t directed any movies aside from Booksmart yet, which is likely as far from a superhero blockbuster as you can get (I didn’t see it; apart from the humor in the trailer crashing and burning, the “see this movie because a woman made it” ad campaign turned me off – and, from the looks of it, not just me). That doesn’t mean she can’t do it, of course; some of the best superhero cinema in recent years has come from inexperienced filmmakers (although, to keep some perspective, so did Captain Marvel). However, Wilde’s screenwriter, Katie Silberman, isn’t much more seasoned; in addition to Booksmart, she wrote a lousy-looking Zoey Deutch movie and an even worse-looking Rebel Wilson movie. As for the film being about Spider-Woman, well, that doesn’t mean much. I know the character (it’s safe to assume we’re talking Jessica Drew here) has a strong fanbase, and she’s a fairly prominent Avenger, but according to Deadline, Olivia Wilde will “completely revamp” her, so her comic book history could be irrelevant.  It’s hard to muster any feeling at all about this, but one thing we can be sure of is, like Booksmart, we’ll all be required to love it.

Do you think Olivia Wilde is a good choice to direct Spider-Woman? Are you a fan of the character? If the buzz is bad enough, will we see Wilde in another one of those pre-movie Coke commercials begging us to watch it? Let us know in the comments and stick around Geeks + Gamers for more superhero movie news!