Following all of the recent controversy surrounding Olivia Wilde and her latest film, Don't Worry Darling, the filmmaker’s Marvel and Sony project has gotten a brief update.
For those not keeping track, Wilde’s latest movie starring Florence Pugh created quite a stir across the world—and not in a good way.
The drama could take up pages of explanation, but, to keep it simple, it involved accusations of infidelity, unprofessional behavior on set, an intense focus on marketing the movie’s sex scenes, actor disagreements, and more.
With how much the whole situation blew up, many wondered if Wilde, who directed the piece, would feel any blowback regarding her future work. One of those upcoming projects would be the rumored Spider-Woman movie, which’s development has been awfully quiet as of late.
An Update on Olivia Wilde’s Marvel Movie
In a new report from The Hollywood Reporter (THR), the outlet confirmed that despite Olivia Wilde’s recent controversial film Don’t Worry Darling, the filmmaker is still involved in the rumored Spider-Woman movie.
THR specifically noted that “[Olivia Wilde] is still attached to direct a Marvel feature for Sony.”
“[Olivia Wilde] is still attached to direct a Marvel feature for Sony.”
In a previous interview, the actress revealed that “[she] can’t say a word about [it]” and joked how she’d have “to bury [herself] in the couch” if she told anyone.
She elaborated, noting how “[she’s] a big fan of what [Marvel is] doing:”
“I will say that I think the Marvel approach of allowing newer filmmakers to come into the fold and have access to those tools of the Marvel universe is incredibly exciting. I am a big fan of what they’re doing over there... but, yeah, I can’t confirm whether that is what that is.”
While Wilde's Marvel movie lives, so does the controversy surrounding both her and another MCU mainstay, Florence Pugh, who also stars as Yelena Belova in the MCU.
Supposedly, according to one of Vulture’s sources, both Olivia Wilde and lead Star Florence Pugh even got into a significant blowout argument on the set. The Black Widow actress had gotten fed up with the director’s consistent unexplained absences with co-Star Harry Styles, who was involved with Wilde at the time of production.
The situation got so bad that Warner Bros. Executive, Toby Emmerich, had to get involved in smoothing things over.
Then there’s the incident where Olivia Wilde claimed that actor Shia Labeouf quit, something he vehemently denied, even bringing forth evidence supporting his claims.
This included a video of Wilde basically pleading for Labeouf to be a part of the film, in which the director even called Pugh “Miss Flo:”
“I feel like I’m not ready to give up on this yet, and I, too, am heartbroken, and I want to figure this out,” she says in the video. “You know, I think this might be a bit of a wake-up call for Miss Flo, and I want to know if you’re open to giving this a shot with me, with us. If she really commits, if she really puts her mind and heart into it at this point, and if you guys can make peace — and I respect your point of view, I respect hers — but if you guys can do it, what do you think? Is there hope? Will you let me know?”
What’s Up With Spider-Woman?
Olivia Wilde’s involvement with the potential Spider-Woman project was first announced way back in August 2020. Since then, there’s only been a handful of updates.
Though, given the above quotes, it still seems to be happening, despite any controversies. And, if going by previous teases from Wilde, it could even be connected to the MCU. Especially considering how the character is currently shared between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures.
Oddly enough, there’s actually a movie already filmed by Sony that’ll feature several different incarnations of Spider-Woman: Madame Web. The movie, starring Dakota Johnson, sees the likes of Celeste O’Conner, Anya Corazon, Julia Carpenter, and Cassandra Web—but no Jessica Drew, who is widely considered the most popular of the bunch.
Then there’s Silk, aka Cindy Moon, who is set to get her own MGM+ streaming series.
With those two projects making progress, it’s strange how little seems to be happening for Spider-Woman. Hopefully, that changes soon because many fans are dying to see Drew come to life.
Madame Web hits theaters on February 16, 2024.
