Marvel offered to "take care of" action scenes if Lucrecia Martel would direct Black Widow

Martel, who directed the very dry Argentinian comedy Zama, says that Marvel told her that the movie needed “someone who is mostly concerned with the development of Scarlett Johansson’s character,” to the point where the studio offered to “take care of” the action scenes if she didn’t feel up for it. It’s hard not to read that as being extremely sexist, with Martel saying her first reaction was to think, “I would love to meet Scarlett Johansson, but also I would love to make the action sequences.” She notes that companies like Marvel are “interested in female filmmakers” these days, “but they still think action scenes are for male directors.”

Of course, Martel isn’t all that interested in joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe anyway, as her first request when she considered making Black Widow was for Marvel to “change the special effects” because “there’s so many laser lights.” She also hates the sound in Marvel movies, saying it’s “quite horrendous” and “painful to the ears,” so she would’ve liked to do something about that as well. That all being said, though, she does note that—in case these comments make it back to Marvel—she still would love to make a Black Widow movie.

[via The Daily Dot]