An up and coming director featured on AsAmNews in April has landed in the big time.
Marvel Studios has hired Chloe Zhao to direct The Eternals, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Zhao has made a name for herself directing two award-winning independent films. Her latest, The Rider, won the Directors’ Fortnight Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Her debut film, Songs My Brothers Taught Me, received three nominations from the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards.
Photo from Sony Pictures Classics
Sources told Variety that Marvel was so enthralled with Zhao that the studio moved quickly to nab her before she landed another job.
Her rise comes at a time much attention has been made about the lack of women directors in Hollywood.
“I want to make sure the people who work with me want to work with me-not to fill a quota,” Zhao told AsAmNews this past spring. “I understand each woman has to be an individual.”
The Eternals is considered Marvel’s next potential franchise. It has hired Matthew and Ryan Firpo to write the script. The Eternals takes place a million years ago. Genetic experiments on humans are being conducted by the Celestials. The story will include a love story between Ikaris, who has cosmic energy, and Sersi, who hangs with the humans, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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RE: Chloe Zhao to Dirrct Marvel Film:The Eternals has almost no fan base.its a thirty almost forty year old title and the characters have hardly ever appeared in comics later. On the other hand the guardians of the galaxy where likewise unknown.