Sony Pulls Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Spider-Man Spinoff “Silver and Black” From Its SchedulePosted by Wilson Morales
June 1, 2018
Source: THR
Sony has changed the date of their “Spider-Man” spin-off “Silver and Black” from Feb. 8, 2019 to UNDATED. The Hollywood Reporter is stating Sony is searching for another date for the film. So far Gina Prince-Bythewood is still schedule to direct the Marvel adaptation. No casting has been made for the characters, so it has been presumed the film would not be ready by February.
Based on the characters Silver Sable and the Black Cat and a spinoff of the Spider-Man universe, Prince-Bythewood will become the first Black female to direct a Marvel film. She also happens to be directing the pilot for “Cloak & Dagger,” Freeform’s television series based on the Marvel Comics teen heroes. That premieres on June 7.
The most recent draft for Silver & Black comes from Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. While doing press this week for the Freeform/Marvel series Cloak & Dagger, Prince-Bythewood indicated the Silver & Black team was currently focusing on the script.
In the comic books, Silver Sable is a mercenary who hunts war criminals, and who is some times friend and sometimes foe to Spider-Man. She was created in 1985 by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz, and heads the Wild Pack, an organization of other mercenaries based in the small (fictional) European state of Symkaria.
Black Cat is a world-famous cat burglar named Felicia Hardy, who briefly appeared in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” played by Felicity Jones. After suffering a traumatic event as a teen, she trained herself in various martial arts and acrobatics and decided to follow in her father’s cat burglar-y footsteps. She has limited superpowers, a very cool enhanced suit, and a somewhat romantic history with Spidey.
While both characters exist in Marvel’s Spider-Man universe, the Yost-penned film will not be a crossover with the web-slinger.
While at last year’s San Diego Comic Con and at a panel discussion, Prince-Bythewood talked about landing the gig to direct ‘Silver and Black.’
Gina Prince-Bythewood: I love the genre. I love films. I love heroes. I have two boys and I see everything. My youngest son is a comic book nerd and has everything. It’s a really cool thing to share this with them. There’s always been this question as to when are women going to get this opportunity and there’s this belief that women don’t like doing these types of films. In the last two years, there’s been the drumbeat, but for some reason, maybe its shame. The numbers are abysmal. The numbers don’t lie. People haven’t shut up about it. I know I have this opportunity because women haven’t shut up.
So, I did Cloak and Dagger for a couple of reasons. I really loved the script. I loved the characters. What we’re trying to do with that is have a young adult them within the Marvel universe. Four years ago, I was watching TV with my youngest son and he was asking me how come we don’t ever see Black superheroes? That stuck with me, which is one of the reasons I wanted to do Cloak and Dagger. That got me into the world. When I had my next film ready to go, that’s when I got a call about this spinoff of Spider-Man, about two female characters.
I said that I had my next movie and that I really can’t look at anything and they told me about the two characters. I told them I’ll read it. It took ten pages and I was done. I was so excited about these two women and the story that I would be able to tell. I went in and talked with the producers. It’s not always this quick, but I saw the film in my head and they felt it. The very next day, I went in to meet with all the heads of Sony and usually that’s very intimidating thing because most producers were women and it’s a room full of men. It was just the same thing, just telling myself that I knew I was the best person for this and come in with that confidence and tell them the story I wanted to tell. It was really a grounded story within this fantastic world of Marvel and they dug it and I got it.
