It's been something of an interesting week or so for Marvel. Edgar Wright abruptly left the Ant-Man film that he'd been attached to in one way or another for around eight years. The reason given was the 'creative differences' stance which seems to encompass a clash of directions that allegedly came to a head when a rewrite of the script occured for which Wright was not involved. Over the last week Marvel have been hurrying to find a replacement director so that they cna make their summer 2014 release commitment.
It appeared that Adam McKay (Anchorman 2, The Other Guys) was going to helm the project, with the likes of industry site The Hollywood Reporter asserting it was almost a done-deal. Apparently, not so much... with the news earlier today that McKay had suddenly decided against the offer, leaving Marvel, once again, somewhat desperate for a name at the helm.
In response to a question, McKay posted a tweet about the situation which read: And yes, met w/Marvel. Kirby & Lee r my Lennon Mccartney so it was awesome. But have other projects I'm committed to. Not sure it can work.
There were other names apparently in the mix, though McKay appeared to be the clear frontrunner. With fans apparently not impressed with Wright's departure, Marvel will have to tread carefully to get something that works within their own universe but also something that has the off-centre style that Wright was bringing to the production.
In better news, the Marvel/Netflix series Daredevil appears to be in calmer waters. Steven DeKnight is now the showrunner on the production after Drew Goddard stepped away to concentrate on commitments to the Sinister Six movie at Fox. Afrer many rumours circulating in the past week, it was formally announced that Charlie Cox (Stardust, Boardwalk Empire) will be headlining the production as the hero and his alter-ego blind lawyer Matt Murdoch in the thirteen part series which is part of a plan to introduce several hero-based series to the screen (others include Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones).
On the big-screen it also appears that Josh Brolin will assume the role (possibly a voice performance of a CGI character, possibly with prosthetics) of the uber-baddie Thanos. The character was glimpsed at the end of Avengers film and it is believed makes a brief apperance in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie out this summer. It is not known how much we'll see of the character, though it appears he could be being lined up for being the big-bad of Avengers 3 rather than the 2015 sequel.
