It’s interesting how two mini-studios under the same umbrella, can have such very different ideas of inclusivity. When Disney was called out for having two major studios, Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios, featuring a distinct lack of female filmmakers, both Kathleen Kennedy and Kevin Feige promised diversity in the future. Well, while Kennedy continues to hire white men to helm her franchise, Feige apparently is putting his money where his mouth is with his latest directorial hire.
READ MORE: ‘Star Wars’ Diversity Problem: Kathleen Kennedy Is Her Own Worst Enemy
According to Variety, acclaimed filmmaker Chloe Zhao has been hired to helm the big screen adaptation of Jack Kirby’s “The Eternals” for Marvel Studios. Zhao is probably not a name you’d probably recognize, unless you’re a faithful reader at The Playlist. The director has recently received incredible acclaim for her film “The Rider,” which we raved about in our review coming out of last year’s Cannes. We loved the film so much, we’ve already deemed it one of the best films of 2018, so far.
READ MORE: Chloé Zhao’s Deeply Moving, Entrancing Western ‘The Rider’ [Cannes Review]
All that being said, it’s still surprising that Marvel Studios handed the keys to a potential billion-dollar franchise to a director who has helmed two feature films, both of which are decidedly without massive VFX work. However, as proven in the past, with the studio’s growing list of up-and-coming directing talent breaking out in a big way, Marvel Studios is a place where young directors can blow up and become household names overnight.
It’s been a few months since we heard about Marvel Studios developing “The Eternals.” For those not familiar with the comic book series, ‘Eternals’ follows a group of ancient race of humans with fantastic powers that were created by God-like entities to protect Earth. While that sounds like a film that would most likely take place on our planet, the adventures that the Eternals go on often lead them to other worlds and dimensions. It’s a trippy comic book and should make for a visually-enthralling film. The film is being written by Matthew and Ryan Firpo.
There’s no word on when “The Eternals” will hit theaters, as Marvel Studios is keeping mum about future plans until after ‘Avengers 4’ next year, but Variety says that the studio hurried to sign Zhao after she was being approached by other major studios. So, perhaps, this could mean that ‘Eternals’ is getting the fast-track. We shall see.