Marvel Studios Hires BLACK PANTHER Writer; Not Seeking Director Until Script Finished

Marvel Studios Hires BLACK PANTHER Writer; Not Seeking Director Until Script Finished

Despite reports that F. Gary Gray was in early talks with Marvel Studios to helm Black Panther, we have word that Marvel will wait until the script is complete before approaching any directors. To that end, Joe Robert Cole is in final talks to write a new draft of the script.

News
By MarkJulian - Oct 06, 2015 11:10 AM EST
Filed Under: Black Panther
Source: The Wrap

According to The Wrap, Joe Robert Cole is in the final stages of negotiations to write a new draft of the Black Panther script.  Marvel may have actually had early talks with F. Gary Gray to direct Black Panther but with the Straight Outta Compton helmer set to tackle Furious 8, it looks as if Kevin Feige and co. will be looking to perfect the script before seeking directors.  Black Panther is currently set for release on July 6, 2018. Chadwick Boseman plays the titular superhero from Wakanda, who will make his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Captain America: Civil War.  Ava DuVernay was Marvel's first choice for the director's chair but the Selma director passed on the project over creative differences.   Given the high profile nature of DuVernay's rebuff, Marvel will likely be extra careful in approaching the next crop of potential suitors.

Cole comes from the in-house Marvel writers program, which also counts Guardians of the Galaxy scribe Nicole Perlman among its members. While James Gunn threw out most of Perlman's script, her work was impressive enough to ultimately lead to her securing the Captain Marvel gig. 

Also of interest, is the reveal that while working in the in-house writers program, Cole worked on an Inhumans script.  However, The Wrap notes that Marvel is no longer using that version of the script for the project.

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GhostDog
GhostDog - 10/6/2015, 11:37 AM
So I'm guessing this guy will propose a script that will then be picked up by a future more experienced writer who uses it as inspiration like Gunn did with Perlman....as she did get writing credits in the film
Fogs
Fogs - 10/6/2015, 11:38 AM
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154858/

I saw this in some sites... He's the Inhumans' writer too?
PesciGotPepsi
PesciGotPepsi - 10/6/2015, 11:39 AM
It's only a split second but Gal Gadot looks freakin sexy
gambgel
gambgel - 10/6/2015, 11:43 AM
draft #8 or draft #11? lol
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 10/6/2015, 11:43 AM
So a day after F. Gary Gray was rumored to be in contention; we learn Marvel hasn't been seeking directors and that F. Gary Gray will be doing Fast & Furious 8?
SmellofDuty
SmellofDuty - 10/6/2015, 11:43 AM
PesciGotPepsi
PesciGotPepsi - 10/6/2015, 11:44 AM
InHumans and Black Panther are my 2 most anticipated ORIGINAL Phase 3 movies
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 10/6/2015, 11:45 AM
@SmellofDuty
GhostDog
GhostDog - 10/6/2015, 11:50 AM
@PesciGotPepsi you mean 1:50
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 10/6/2015, 11:55 AM
@MarkJulian why is the teaser photo a photo of Jay-Z's Black Album?
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 10/6/2015, 12:00 PM
Also what @fettastic said.

It's why I'm being to loathe the idea of a cinematic universe.

More of the same as less creative potential.

We will likely never saw another mainstream comic book movie from the big 2 that has a world with such a rich and fulfilling style as Burton's Batman.
SageMode
SageMode - 10/6/2015, 12:00 PM
Marvel needs to get F Gary Gray on the Black Panther directors' chair. Dude is pretty diverse when it comes to genre filmmaking, from comedy (Friday), to an action thriller (The Negotiator), to a biopic drama (Straight Outta Compton).
SmellofDuty
SmellofDuty - 10/6/2015, 12:01 PM
Levi thats the funniest thing I've seen all day
BlackIceJoe
BlackIceJoe - 10/6/2015, 12:02 PM
I really hope they make a great script, Black Panther has such an amazing universe and I want to see it done right.
PsychoticSpaceRaccoon
PsychoticSpaceRaccoon - 10/6/2015, 12:03 PM
Marvel has billions. How can they not lock down F. Gary Gray? He would have been great.

I HATE the Furious franchise. Gaaaaaaaabage.
aievilgenius
aievilgenius - 10/6/2015, 12:08 PM
Pedrito
Pedrito - 10/6/2015, 12:09 PM
If James Gunn was able to rewrite the script to his tastes, why can't other directors do the same?
The reality is that not every director is as passionate about every movie as Gunn was about GOTG, or they simply don't have the time, interest or even skill to do significant rewrites.

And how many (busy) directors will come up to Marvel and say, "I've watched and studied all of your movies and came up with a complete story set entirely in your continuity". Forget about it.

So it makes perfect sense for Marvel Studios to come up with a complete framework of a story before looking for a director who can realize it in film.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 10/6/2015, 12:10 PM
@fettastic @LEVITKUZ

When people think that hiring a director after A DRAFT....just a draft, means that said oncoming director still can't bring his or her vision



They're both equally significant. It's just a draft not a finished script. Multiple drafts are done before a finished script all the time.

All jokes aside, just because they're doing the DRAFT first, doesn't mean that the director can't bring their own vision. Sometimes, it's best to get some story beats and ideas down first. A director doesn't want complete dependency on him or her. They can come in a see that ideas have been brewing. It's a partnership; a combination of ideas and suggestions. The director can come and blend their ideas wit Marvel. Introduce some new things. It's a collaboration.
String
String - 10/6/2015, 12:11 PM
Black Panther won't film until after Infinity War Part 1 & 2 in the summer of 2017. If we use the timetable that Marvel used for Thor: Ragnarok which films in the summer of 2016 -they don't need to go after a director for another year. There is no hurry to line up a director.

All this points to is that whoever Marvel gets as director -THAT director will agree to direct the script that is written. They will know beforehand what they're getting into and probably won't make major changes. That's what happens when the studio has a completed script when shopping for a director. If Ava DuVernay had taken the directors chair she probably would had a bigger say in the direction of the script -just like Scott Derrickson probably does with Doctor Strange. Whoever Marvel gets -probably will be a hired gun like all the Thor films have been.
AsgardianHobo
AsgardianHobo - 10/6/2015, 12:20 PM
@DrDoom just destroyed people....wow, haha

Except that 1989 Batman comment was dead wrong. That shit was amazing!!!
Dotanuki
Dotanuki - 10/6/2015, 12:21 PM
Golf clap @DrDoom
Spock0Clock
Spock0Clock - 10/6/2015, 12:22 PM
@fettastic

Except that we've seen writers and directors making significant changes relatively late in production (in the case of Iron Man 3), and (in the case of Winter Soldier and Guardians) the directors were involved in the writing process.

Look, I don't particularly put a lot of stock into the autuer theory of cinema in general, but what the hell is wrong with studio/producer driven film franchises in theory? If you want to talk about broader studio interference in Hollywood, as a general rule, then that's one thing. But in this particular franchise, helmed by this particular studio, in this particular universe how about we let Kevin Feige tell the story he wants to tell?

The term auteur implies that directors are inherently the supreme legitimate creative voices for film, but that is completely arbitrary, and moreover presupposes a hard distinction between the business side of films and the creative side that only really exists in people's minds. The history of comic books (and the Disney company, incidentally) are full of people who were at their best with one foot in both camps.
VileBlood
VileBlood - 10/6/2015, 12:23 PM
Can't stop laughing at these trolls declaring Marvel gives no freedom to directors. Why are you so-called experts posting on CBM instead of working for Marvel or DC giving them your precious expertise?
Spock0Clock
Spock0Clock - 10/6/2015, 12:24 PM
I spent way too much time constructing an argument while @DrDoom just brings the evidence (and the house down).
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