EXCLUSIVE:
Marvel Studios is setting
Destin Daniel Cretton to direct
Shang-Chi,its first superhero movie tentpole franchise with an Asian protagonist. Cretton is directing
Just Mercy, a film he wrote which stars Brie Larson and Michael B. Jordan.
This is in keeping with the studio’s goal to take this in a direction like Black Panther, and populate it with Asian-American talent. When
Deadline first revealed the project late last year, the studio had set Chinese-American scribe
Dave Callaham to write the screenplay.
Black Panther provided a watershed template for how to do this, making a film that tied into African and African American cultures and the sensibilities of its nearly all-black cast, with a black director in Ryan Coogler and writer in Joe Robert Cole. The film got a Best Picture Oscar nomination and won three Oscars, in addition to grossing $1.3 billion worldwide. It is clear that after Marvel Studios’ unparalleled decade of success following
Iron Man,
Kevin Feige’s next iterations of superhero franchises will distinguish themselves with ethnic diversity and inclusion, in front of and behind the camera.
Larson first worked with Cretton when she starred in his second film, Short Term 12. His other directorial credits include The Glass Castle. He is repped by WME