British filmmaker Ben Wheatley is one of those people that always gets brought up in the discussion of who would be a great filmmaker for a superhero movie. After impressing critics and audiences with films like “High-Rise,” “Sightseers,” and “Free Fire,” Wheatley’s brand of storytelling seems tailor-made for a big-budget superhero franchise. Well, according to an actor close to the director, we might be close to seeing this happen.
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In an interview on the Adam Buxton Podcast (via CBM), actor/comedian Bob Mortimer dropped a bit of a bombshell. The comedian was discussing how he and Wheatley were in the process of working together on a film about Michael Jackson when that all changed. “We were about to start that but then Ben got offered one of the big Marvel films, so it weren’t for us to say, ‘you ain’t doing that Ben,’” Mortimer revealed.
Now, this isn’t the first time that Wheatley’s name has been brought up in regards to a Marvel movie. The director was being interviewed by Little White Lies when he mentioned a comic book property that he’d be interested in working on. And it’s probably not one that many outside the comic book community are aware of.
“‘Marvel Zombies‘ hasn’t been done which is what I’m interested in,” he said. “Maybe that’s a bit too niche. Marvel’s interesting in that it’s kind of a hybrid of cinema and television. A very, very expensive TV show that you buy a pass for every three months.”
As you might imagine, “Marvel Zombies” is a story that presents audiences with a world where all the Marvel superheroes have been infected by the zombie virus. It’s very dark and violent and would almost definitely require an R-rating. So, the odds of this happening would appear very slim.
However, just because Mortimer said “big Marvel film” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s for Disney. Perhaps Wheatley is attached to one of the few remaining Fox properties or an unnamed Sony Spider-Verse movie?
Guess we’ll have to wait and see.