From Taika Waititi to Ryan Coogler, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been inviting increasingly high-caliber directing talentto helm its action-packed superhero blockbusters. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly,Do the Right Thingdirector Spike Lee said he’d be open to joining their ranks. However, while he’d take a meeting withMarvel, he’s not such a fan of the company’s closest rival, DC, so don’t expect a Spike LeeBatmanmovie any time soon.
When asked about the opinions of filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, who don’t think Marvel’s blockbusters are real cinema, Lee said, “I have nothing against Marvel. I grew upreading Spider-Man comic books.” However, he added that he’s not as forgiving to a different titan of superhero comics: “To me, DC Comics was always corny.” When the interviewer asked if he was trying to stoke a civil war between Marvel and DC fans, Lee chuckled, “I’m just saying, I was all about Marvel.”
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Lee made it clear that he wasn’t activelyseeking a job from Kevin Feige, but that he wouldn’t rule out working with Marvel Studios: “If the right opportunity comes across, I’m not campaigning for it, but I will give it consideration.” While most of Lee’s films are straight dramas dealing with social issues, likeMalcolm XandBlacKkKlansman, he has dabbled in pulpier genres in the past. He made a twisty heist thriller withInside Man, a Vietnam War epic with his most recent work,Da 5 Bloods, and neo-noir actioner with his 2013 English-language remake ofOldboy. However, he has yet to take on a straight superhero movie.
The closest that Lee came to making a superhero movie wasa project he developed about the Nightwatch characterfor Sony Pictures’ own shared universe of Marvel films. Edward Ricourt wrote the initial script before Sony approached Lee about directing, and he confirmed his interest and got Cheo Hodari Coker to work on rewrites. However, the project eventually stalled and Lee dropped out a few months later.
Any potential Marvel project will have to waituntil Lee is done with his next project, which he set up in November last year. The movie will be a musical based on the origins of Pfizer’s erectile dysfunction drug Viagra. Lee co-wrote the script with Kwame Kwei-Armah, adapted from an Esquire article titled “All Rise: The Untold Story of the Guys Who Launched Viagra” by David Kushner. Stew Stewart and Heidi Rodewald, best known for the Tony-winning musicalPassing Strange, will write the musical’s original songs.
