And if Scarlett Johansson
had been under the leadership of Melanie Laurent
? For an American blockbuster, namely, a film Marvel ? This is not a utopia, on the contrary. Of course, the collaboration could not happen. However, the 40-year-old actress and director almost directed the American star for the Marvel Studios film: Black Widow. A production in which viewers were able to discover the past of the character of Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, on July 7, 2021.
If Cate Shortland was chosen to produce the film, Melanie Laurent, didn’t go far. In any case, this is what she told Pierre Lescure this Sunday, November 19, 2023, during her visit
in the show Nice gesture
on France 2. “You were cast to direct a Marvel superhero film, Black Widow. What did you learn about this job?”the journalist reminded his guest.
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Mélanie Laurent tasked with writing a Marvel in 10 days
If he thought he would bring back bad memories because of the failure of not being selected, the opposite happened with Melanie Laurent. “I had a blast. It lasted 7 months. There were 300 of us but it was a battle!”she remembered with a smile on her lips and stars in her eyes before continuing: “The first meeting, I was asked to reveal the image I had of Black Widow, and the image I would like to have of her. So in fact I almost pitched Voleuses (film made for Netflix with Adèle Exarchopoulos: editor’s note. ‘I would like Black Widow to have girlfriends. I would like her to be a bit nice. I would like her to get up in the morning with her hair disheveled'”.
Unfortunately, this idea apparently did not convince the casting managers. During three months, Melanie Laurent didn’t hear back before receiving a strange phone call: “in 10 days, you’ll pitch Black Widow to us.” “I asked them what they were talking to me about, so they wanted me to pitch them a Marvel in 10 days…”she was surprised before the casting managers told her: “No, but you can come with photos, drawings, I need to enter the universe that you are going to create”.
Happy despite the stress, Melanie Laurent wrote the screenplay “at once”with a “sequencer”. “The Zoom lasted 3h30. And then, the last step was to go to Los Angeles, meet them all, there were still the biggest producers from all of Marvel, and I had to make the tape- announcement of my Black Widow as a reference. A crazy job! In the end there were only two of us. Pitching these people was crazy. Because I actually like learning”she remembered, always so moved and happy.
RF