The chronicles of Hollywood contain many chapters about the movies that could’ve been, or almost were, but never did make it all the way from concept to the big screen. This is certainly true of the superhero movie genre, which is littered with the bones of failed adaptations of popular comic book characters.
Writer/actor/director David Hayter knows how steep a climb it is from comic book page to movie screen; as the man behind the scripts for both X-Men and Watchmen (two properties that had many stalled attempts before finally becoming movies), Hayter has helped harness the cinematic potential of some of the biggest superheroes and/or comic book stories of all time. But today, we’re going to hear about one of Hayter’s ideas that never made it to the screen (unfortunately).
FemPop recently had a brief interview with Hayter about the Black Widow film he was attached to back in the early-to-mid 2000s – BEFORE the character was shoehorned placed in Iron Man 2 as a setup for Marvel’s Avengers movie. According to Hayter himself, his Black Widow movie would’ve been a mix of politics, espionage and superhero action:
What I tried to do was use the backdrop of the splintered Soviet Empire – a lawless insane asylum with four hundred some odd nuclear missile silos. It was all about loose nukes, and I felt it was very timely and very cool. Unfortunately, as I was coming up on the final draft, a number of female vigilante movies came out. We had Tomb Raider and Kill Bill, which were the ones that worked, but then we had BloodRayne and Ultraviolet and Aeon Flux. Aeon Flux didn’t open well, and three days after it opened, the studio said, “We don’t think it’s time to do this movie.” I accepted their logic in terms of the saturation of the marketplace, but it was pretty painful. I had not only invested a lot of time in that movie, but I had also named my daughter, who was born in that time period Natasha – after the lead character in Black Widow. I named my daughter after a movie that I wasn’t working on anymore.
It’s hard not to be lured by Hayter’s premise for the movie, which, admittedly, would’ve been a much more interesting and kick-ass introduction to the Widow than the “Tony Stark’s pretend secretary” stuff that Iron Man 2 gave us. Other than that one badass hallway fight sequence in IM2, Black Widow (and subsequently Scarlett Johansson) has pretty much been eye candy in this Marvel movie universe.
To be fair, though, the studio did have a point: after that string of flicks Hayter names above, I think we were all a little bit tired of seeing that female warrior premise play out on screen. Would Hayter’s Widow film have been any better? Probably. But on the lighter side of things: Emily Blunt STILL probably would not have landed the role, as her rise to fame really came in around 2007. Such is the way of Hollywood…
Would you have liked to see David Hayter’s Black Widow movie? Is this the idea Marvel should use for the Black Widow solo film it’s been mulling over?
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Sure they should consider it. I’m a sucker for Nuke stories and it would be way better than the treatment “Aeon Flux” got.
Nobody knows more about stealthily disposing of nukes than David Hayter. And the premise looks fantastic. Shame.
*ring ring*
Snake!? SNAAAAAAAAKE!
ROFLCOPTER
(a Soviet military ROFLCOPTER, of course)
screw tht movie start writing a MGS trilogy
As a hardcore Marvel fan, I have ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST in seeing a Black Widow movie:
She will and always will be a SUPPORTING character (and IMO can’t really carry her own film — especially if ScarJo will reprise her role).
@Marvel: leave the Black Widow in the SHIELD hellicarier (where she belongs), instead, why don’t you guys make a Black Panther, Dr Strange, Ms.Marvel, TIH2, Cap2 or Heroes For Hire movie (among a whole list of other possibilities)…
*Correction: I meant to say “She is and and always will be a SUPPORTING character”
I found it funny that he named his daughter after a COMIC BOOK character not after a movie.
Again it appears even with his track record some people do not see the forest because of the trees.
Enough comic book/super hero movies already.
NO THANK YOU, BLACK PANTHER/HEROES FOR HIRE/ OR DR. STRANGE MOVIE PLEASE
Black Window is a sidekick and truly isnt worthy of a movie. I guess they’e going to make a movie on Bucky from Captain America?!?!?
I love how studios always chalk up action movies with chicks flopping because it has a female and not because you know…the movie sucks.
David should try and sell the script to Marvel’s Animation studio. That way it isn’t wasted and Marvel doesn’t have to drop 100 million on a live action budget. animation films are pretty expensive too but the price would be drastically lower if animated.
Hmm ! … See more of Scarlett Johanssons butt ? …ok !
She needs her own movie. Movies like “Resident Evil”, and “Underworld”, are mega hit franchise that stars a female role. As a marvel fan as well, we need a black widow film, but more of a franchise not just one movie. not just one movie! Underworld and Resident Evil work so well because Sony Pictures knows how to promoted those films. Seeing a female heroine is needed!!!
&+ Underworld & Resident Evil have solid storylines, and GREAT acting!
Now Underworld we see the cast and crew care for. And is also has great acting as well!
But Resident Evil’s milla jovovich (Alice) has more than just a care. She has a passion for this franchise, as well as Director/writer Paul Anderson. They give it there all, and Milla actually, ACTUALLY tweets a freak load of stuff behind the scenes. The passion for the franchise is exactly what the Black Widow films would need to find!
To make it successful like the RE films!