Thoughts I had... while staring at the "Black Widow" posters
Thursday, May 13, 2021 at 11:24PM by Nathaniel R
You can hear that, right? It's a little bit like a loud whisper rather than the standard deafening shouts of mid May but summer movie season is calling. What that will mean this year is anyone's guess with the pandemic having wreaked havoc on viewing habits, moviegoing, and theatrical releases. But we've been inundated with new trailers and now we're getting the usual promotions of character posters. Hollywood hopes you'll go back to the movies. (Or do they, since they're so obsessed with building their streaming services). So let's talk the long delayed not-quite-upon-us Black Widow which hits in July by way of its character posters.
Whenever we're short on time we like to do these 'thoughts i had' and present them unedited as they come though these posters are kind of plain so it's not giving us much to think about...
• We were worried that Black Widow was going to be anti-climactic when it was first announced given that it's a prequel and the character is already dead. Given the long wait for the movie and now a POST July 4th release it's more of the same -- Marvel just kept putting this one off! It remains strange and disappointing and honestly a bit like perpetually leaving money on the table that for all that Scarlett did to liven up The Avengers and Captain America movies -- and it says a lot that the character was as popular as she ended up being without superpowers of her own -- she didn't even get the honor of being Marvel's first female superhero movie.
• I genuinely hope the movie is good to combat its anticlimactic 'afterthought' kind of place in Marvel's global domination plan.
• Do you think Scarlett saw that interview with Emily Blunt where Black Widow was discussed?
Absolutely living for Emily Blunt's face when she's asked about superhero-casting rumors... pic.twitter.com/IIx5vW8vOc
— Nathaniel Rogers (@nathanielr) May 12, 2021
• Do you think she ever wonders what Emily Blunt would have been like in the role? Can you picture Emily doing Marriage Story or Under the Skin or Scarlett doing Edge of Tomorrow or Mary Poppins Returns?
• Why did they give THE STAR, the most boring of the actress poses for these posters? Not that any of the poses are "exciting" mind you but this one is very stiff.
• ...but not stiff with purpose like Florence Pugh's poster. Remember how stiff with purpose Amy was in Little Women? Though that might have been the corsets. Florence earned that Oscar nod. Do you think she should have won?
• What really sells the attitude of this poster is that she's looking down on us with something like wary disdain. Like maybe this gaze is directed at all those people who were leaving nasty comments on her Instagram about her boyfriend. The internet is just toxic with haters and self-righteousness, Florence. Shake it off. You're an adult. Date whomever you'd like and be supremely happy!
• What is this weapon? I thought it was a gun but on a closer inspection it looks like a walking stick... or a camera tripod. Is this poster a selfie?
• I'm embarrassed to share this but I play games on my phone when I'm bored, depressed, or on the subway and I've been playing Marvel's Future Fight and it keeps doing the hard sell to purchase Florence's character but her costume is too dull. Plus if you start buying in-app things for any phone games your bank account is toast; don't do it! But Black Widow is a fun character to play and she has more costumes than anybody else in the game. Kind of like how Scarlett gets more hairstyle changes than anyone else in Marvel Studio's filmography.
• O.T. Fagbenle is so delicious. But if you'd told us how varied and big his career would get after being introduced to him by way of a gay threesome on season 1 of Looking (not remotely his first role but the first time we noticed him) we would not have believed you.
• We though O.T. was playing the villain Task Master but they get separate posters so maybe we're not supposed to know he's the villain. Or maybe he isn't? According to IMDb he's playing a character named "Mason"
• Next up for O.T. is yet another left turn. He'll be playing Barack Obama in that miniseries The First Lady which also stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Viola Davis though he won't have any scenes with Michelle (so it's not an I Could Never Be Your Woman reunion -- yes he was in that barely released Pfeiffer pflick which was also Saoirse Ronan's debut). His scenes in The First Lady will be with Viola Davis and here's a fun factoid: He played Levee, Chadwick Boseman's Oscar-nominated role in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, in an Olivier-winning revival of the play in London a handful of years ago. The range!
• David Harbour, who we loved even before Stranger Things (shoulda called dibs) via Broadway's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf 2004 revival and 2008's Revolutionary Road -- is playing Red Guardian. He went from being kidnapped by Russians in Stranger Things to playing one for Marvel. Like O.T. we can't say we saw the size of his career coming. We were worried he'd get stuck in thankless tiny supporting parts like the neighbor's husband or the doctor who gives the star bad news. Just goes to show you what one good role / lucky break can do if you've got the talent to make the most of it.
• Weirdly they gave Rachel Weisz the famous Black Widow pose instead of giving it to Scarlett. Though Scarlett did this pose on an earlier poster but in white leather.
• I have a hard time picturing Rachel Weisz in this kind of movie because she was so uncharacteristically bad in the effects driven Oz the Great and Powerful. On the other hand she definitely gave off haute couture supervillain vibes at the Oscars for The Favourite
Are you excited for Black Widow?
Here's the latest trailer which actually does give us confidence in the movie... at least in the action scenes which is always a big question mark for movies from directors who haven't previously made action films. The film is directed by Cate Shortland who previously made the well-received Australian romantic dramas Somersault (2004) and Lore (2012)
Reader Comments (21)
I want the posters with the ladies... I just got my 2nd vaccination last Tuesday and I'm so ready to see this.
truly, this Black Widow film is pure fan service and I am intrigued if what we are about to see even happens in the MCU timeline or in Loki's... because a sweet reminder is required, that Loki in Endgame created a whole new timeline where Black Widow, Gamora and Thanos aren't dead. That may explain why they have decided to push it AFTER Loki's miniseries premiere. Also, heavy rumors that some mutant (Ursa Major or Omega Red) may be included in the film...
Off Topic
@Nathaniel
Just finished "El Baile de los 41" (Dance of the 41) in Netflix. It takes time to get going but once it does... the last 20 minutes are breathtaking at some points and the final scene is a little marvel of directing, writting, acting, cinematography and film and sound editing (and it inmediately becomes one of my favorite endings of all time - I loved it that much!).
It won't happen in a million years, but at the very least, any given year, this should be up in contention for cinematography and production design, but the film is way more deep and while never going over the top in - which could have easily gone - there's a strong hand at directing making the last 20 minute have the effect of a sledgehammer but used gently.
Can't wait to see what you think of this one.
Why?
Honestly I thought Rachel Weisz was the only GOOD thing in Oz the great and powerful. Thought Michelle Williams and mila kunis were awful
Where's the 1980's Debra Winger BLACK WIDOW poster? :-)
If it's a huge success, it will be interesting to see how many prequels-to-her-dying they try to cram in.
I am excited, yes. But I am an avid follower of the MCU.
I'm especially interested in seeing how Pugh manages, she is an A-list in the making.
Look, I'm just excited to be in theaters again with a fan-driven crowd. I miss it.
Pugh should have won the Oscar.
And I agree with Tlove that Weisz was giving the best performance-easily- in Oz. It's not her best but she outacts everyone in that cast.
At least Marvel has moved away from giving Scarlett (and the other women) the ass-prominent poster. That's progress, even if Florence looks a little stiff.
Love how Weisz is gonna be in an action movie soon!!!
I think Scarlett would have killed in Mary Poppins returns. That film had a lot of problems and Blunt was fine, but it would have been fun to see Scarlett in musical/comedy mode. Her performance as the mom in Jojo Rabbit made me realize that she's brilliant in that sort of caring, maternal mode . I think she would have received the Oscar nom that alluded Emily.
O.T. Fagbenle is very hot. I'm glad he's found steady work and success post looking (where he was wonderful).
Rachel Weiz stealing the famous Black-widow pose makes sense - she's playing some sort of mother figure to Natasha.
Well, count me in the "I'm super excited" crowd! Unless the reviews are absolutely horrible, I plan to see this in a theater with my mask OFF and some popcorn. I love Black Widow, the cast is baller, and the trailer makes me look forward to Scarlett and Florence's interactions. And Weisz, too! Love all three ladies and can't wait to see them in kickass mode.
This seems fun. I have a strong feeling Florence Pugh is gonna still Scarlett's show.
If it was 1994 Flo Pew Pew would have won that Oscar, lol. Totally agree with your comments on Rach. Super excited for this film! Looks like a ton of fun and yeah!
Great cast. Black Widow deserves her own movie. Where ARE Debra Winger and Theresa Russell, though?
Great cast... I’m definitely in and I hope this is a big hit... I’m tired of Batman, superman, iron man & captain America! I want more Black Widow, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel in our comic book movies!
@Choog. Making all our superheroes women isn't going to breathe fresh life into them for very long. In fact, three, two, one.... I'm tired of them, too.
It's basically a fascistic genre that says advanced democracies can't deal with their own problems and have to hope for strong superhuman individuals to swoop in and whip society into shape. If Siegfried Kracauer were alive today, he wouldn't be writing a book called FROM CALIGARI TO HITLER. He'd be writing one called FROM SUPERMAN TO TRUMP.
Opinions on Oz set aside, Rachel Weisz became a star after her work the effects driven Mummy films so there is precedent
Co-sign to no one’s surprise on Weisz being the MVP of Raimi’s OZ. She was honestly the only one who seemed to understand the tone of the film, whereas Kunis starts off dull and then puts on a vamped-up high school performance once she gets the CGI and the makeup to do the heavy lifting, which (heh, which) she then lifts even higher. Williams was just boring, and Franco, as he seemed to be more and more during this period, was completely miscast.
I’ve missed Weisz kicking butt. Watching the tv spots with her brought back so many memories of me watching The Mummy Returns trailers and having out of body experiences at finally getting to watch my favorite actress be a badass in action scenes on the big screen!
Bring it, Disney!!