In their report on Straight Outta Compton director F. Gary Gray emerging as the frontrunner to helm Fast And Furious 8, Variety claims that he’s also being looked at to take the reigns on Marvel’s Black Panther movie. They only mention this in passing, so no other details are provided, but a couple of other trade writers have since weighed in on Twitter, seemingly confirming that Gray is in contention, at the very least.
This isn’t the first time the director has been linked to a Marvel project, as he was said to be in the running to helm Captain America: The Winter Soldier back in 2012 before the Russo Brothers got the gig. Gray has also stated that he’d “love to” helm a superhero movie in previous interviews – so maybe he’ll finally get his chance to do so by bringing T’Challa to the big screen.
The studio seemed to have settled on Selma director Ava Duvernay to head up the project not too long ago, but she passed due to “creative differences,” and they’ve clearly been trying to find a suitable replacement ever since. Will that be Gray? Only time will tell….
Chadwick Boseman will star in Black Panther, which currently has a July, 2018 release date. When we hear more on who will fill the role of director, we’ll be sure to let you know.