Marvel hires new screenwriter to rewrite Black Widow movie

With only two movies before Phase Three of the MCU draws to a close, Marvel is busy updating their slate with Black Widow.

While Captain Marvel is set to hit theaters in roughly three weeks and Avengers: Endgame, about over a month from release, sights are set for post-Phase Three of the MCU as the only project almost ready for release is Spider-Man: Far From Home. Evidently, more films at Marvel Studios have been in development including Black Widow. Six months back, Aussie filmmaker, Cate Shortland, has been chosen out of 70 candidates to helm the Scarlett Johansson vehicle.

At the time, Jae Schaeffer penned a draft of the screenplay for the standalone Black Widow film. Now, Marvel has hired a new screenwriter, Ned Benson, to handle rewrites. Collider made the initial report.

Benson, a director and producer, began his career developing and producing shorts. During a premiere of his short film, Four Lean Hounds, at the Malibu Film Festival he met Jessica Chastain.

Marvel executives seem to be impressed by Benson for his work on The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby. A project that had been circling around the Black List as Him, Chastain, the star, encouraged Benson to write a second script from Rigby’s perspective as Her. It was submitted at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival as Him and Her. At the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Benson handed in the two films as one – The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them.

Johansson, who personally suggested Shortland, also hired Benson to rewrite the draft by Schaeffer and Marvel. Like many films in the MCU, the solo Black Widow film will be produced by Kevin Feige. Benson’s next project is when he is tasked in order to adapt to an article from the Dallas Morning News – My Aryan Princess for Amy Pascal’s Pascal Pictures.