Ava DuVernay passes on Black Panther

Ava DuVernay has revealed that she passed on the opportunity to direct Marvel's Black Panther, explaining to Essence that the studio had indeed approached her, but that they had differing visions of how the film should play out.

"I’m not signing on to direct Black Panther," confirmed the Selma director. "I think I’ll just say we had different ideas about what the story would be. Marvel has a certain way of doing things and I think they’re fantastic and a lot of people love what they do. I loved that they reached out to me."

"I loved meeting Chadwick [Boseman] and writers and all the Marvel execs," she continues. "In the end, it comes down to story and perspective. And we just didn’t see eye to eye. Better for me to realise that now than cite creative differences later."

All of which sounds pretty reasonable, if a little disappointing. Hopefully Kevin Feige have some equally exciting replacements lined up. Black Panther will open in the UK and US on 6 July 2018.

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