Though there was no doubt that it was going to be made, the standalone Black Widowfilm was officially announced during Marvel Studios' Saturday Comic-Con presentation.
The announcement gave the film's star, Scarlett Johansson, an opportunity to shed a little light on the direction that the movie will go. Unfortunately, specifics were scarce (which also means spoilers were too), but nevertheless Johansson provided the first info on what you can expect to see when the movie drops next year.
"I feel like a weight has been lifted" she told Variety.
The movie is currently in the production stage in London, and the audience was treated to some early footage from the film. During the presentation, Johansson was joined onstage by the film's director, Cate Shortland, as well as co-stars Rachel Weisz, David Harbour, and Florence Pugh. Variety adds that the trip only spanned a day because they had to head back to continue filming.
While saying that she believes audiences will learn what Black Widow is scared of, she also said that the film will take a different approach to dialogue than Marvel movies have up to this point.
“We do about seven pages of dialogue this week so maybe [“Black Widow”] is a little different than most Marvel movies,” said Johansson . “There’s lots of talking. I get to talk more. I could tell you that.”
Johansson also said that she could've made this movie a decade ago, but that it would be radically different than what's being made now.
“I think I could have made the film 10 years ago but it would have been a very different film,” she told Variety. “I think it probably would have been much more of a caricature of a person. I feel after living an extra 10 years and becoming a mother and you know, life and how it happens to you, I feel much more in myself and able to explore all the kind of things that make me uncomfortable and then just lay it out for you guys.
“It feels like I’m a stronger person by the fact that I have embraced my vulnerability. And I think that will make this version of the character really, hopefully, complex.”
She also said that Shortland was the right match to direct the film.
“Cate is the perfect director because she always goes back to dig for what is real, what is brutally real and honest and what the truth of each scene is,” she added. “And not only does she have an incredible visual vocabulary, which is obvious in her work, but she’s always searching for the uncomfortable, brutal truth, and that’s what we need for this film.”
Black Widow is slated to open in theaters on May 1, 2020.
