Scarlett Johansson convinced Black Widow director to helm the project

American actress Scarlett Johansson convinced Cate Shortland to helm the Marvel project of Black Widow. Director Cate Shortland has a major hand in making the female superhero film a blockbuster.

Cate Shortland originally turned down Marvel's offer to direct Black Widow. But, the 36-year-old actress took the director on Zoom to convince her to come on board.

In an interview with Variety, Cate Shortland revealed that Marvel approached her to take the project as a director. However, she told her agent to turn down the offer, she said, adding but her agent did not convey her answer to the studios.

"I told my manager in L.A., ‘There’s no way I can do this movie, and I’m not sure why they’re asking me," Cate Shortland told Variety. "It’s crazy, the whole endeavor.' And then she never told them no."

However, Scarlett Johansson wanted her to do the film. The actress was confident that Shortland will do the project as she has watched her film Lore. And, to convince her, the actress brought her to a Zoom meeting.

"It was very important to me that the person that directed this film had to have made a masterpiece and then some other good movies. One masterpiece, you know? And I really think ‘Lore’ is really so close to — I mean, it’s a perfect film," she said.

At the Zoom meeting, the two did not discuss the project. Instead, the two talked about everything in the world. In the process, Shortland got convinced about the idea of directing the project and came on board, eventually.

Black Widow by Marvel was the first project of a huge level that Cate Shortland accomplished. Her previous films were character-driven dramas and much smaller in scale.

Cate Shortland has proved her sorts and fulfilled all the expectations from Marvel by pulling off her first blockbuster with good reviews are pouring in.