While the world has finally been able to witness what filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood is able to do with a big action blockbuster in the Netflix feature, “The Old Guard,” the film isn’t the first attempt by the filmmaker to launch a comic book franchise. In fact, well before she landed the job directing the Charlize Theron-led action film, Prince-Bythewood was knee-deep in preparation for a ‘Spider-Man’ spin-off film, “Silver & Black.” And according to a new interview with IndieWire, it’s that film that helped her land “The Old Guard.”
For those not familiar, well before “The Old Guard,” Sony signed Prince-Bythewood to helm a film titled “Silver & Black,” which would feature the team-up between ‘Spider-Man’ supporting characters, Silver Sable and Black Cat. The film was in development for a long time before the studio ultimately pulled the plug. The status of that feature is now up in the air, with the filmmaker previously hinting at a possible TV series version of the story.
And why might Sony have pulled the plug on “Silver & Black?” Apparently, Prince-Bythewood spent a year-and-a-half rewriting the script and working with the studio to figure out the tone of the superhero film. You see, the filmmaker was all about pushing the boundaries of what a Marvel film could be.
“I wanted to go edgier than some of the Marvel films,” she said. “It was a question of how far could I push it in that Marvel universe.”
Well, as we now know, maybe Prince-Bythewood was trying to push it too far, with the project now lingering in purgatory. That being said, the filmmaker does think that her months-long effort to bring “Silver & Black” to the screen was enough of a calling card to earn her a pitch for Netflix’s “The Old Guard.”
“‘Silver & Black’ put me in the conversation,” she explained. “I was one of those couple of women people go to for these big films. I knew what kind of movies Skydance make. It was exhilarating and nerve-racking. I knew I loved this project, partly because I could do everything I wanted to do from the other film: an edgy superhero film with two women.”
The filmmaker added, “Everything happens for a reason. I learned so much in that year and half. All the stuff I was learning about doing a film of that scale I could transfer over to ‘The Old Guard.’ So it didn’t feel like a gigantic leap.”
And yes, it did ultimately work out, with Prince-Bythewood establishing herself as a director that is able to take superhero-esque characters and a huge budget and present a feature that does offer more than your average blockbuster intelligence and heart. So, even though it didn’t work out with Sony/Marvel previously, “The Old Guard” proves that she’s a director willing to tackle anything.