Millennium Films has tapped Transparent creator Jill Soloway to replace Bryan Singer as the director of Red Sonja. She’ll also write the script, and reportedly has a “bold new take” on the character.
Millennium has been developing Red Sonja for years, and the success of Wonder Woman encouraged the studio to ramp up its efforts. Described as “she-devil with a sword”, the character found success in the 1970s but has mostly been relegated to bit-parts compared to other heroes. Despite that, Soloway said: “I can’t wait to bring Red Sonja’s epic world to life”.
She continued: “Exploring this powerful mythology and evolving what it means to be a heroine is an artistic dream come true”. Soloway’s Transparent has been critically acclaimed and award-winning during its entire run on Amazon. She recently directed The Transparent Movie Musicale Finale, which is framed around the death of one of the main characters, and will debut this autumn.
The two-hour film features 10 original songs and will likely serve as the series finale for the show. She also previously directed the underseen but very good 2013 film Afternoon Delight, which starred Kathryn Hahn and Juno Temple.
Some would rightly argue why it took this long for Singer to be replaced. Millennium agreed to pay Singer $10 million after he’d been fired from the Bohemian Rhapsody set for his erratic behaviour. Incredibly, they still kept him on after more people came forward with sexual assault allegations that have followed Singer around for years.
However, while it seemed the studio was willing to live with the bad press, keeping Singer on board would have likely meant casting a major star would be next to impossible.
Millennium also doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to studio interference. The recent Hellboy film was marred with behind-the-scenes drama. Some have already openly wondered whether Soloway will be fighting for final cut in two years.
Still, despite Hollywood’s strides forward, a woman directing a big-budget blockbuster is rare. Perhaps Soloway didn’t want to wait for Marvel or DC to come calling, and smartly grabbed the first opportunity of this kind she was offered.
Considering her track record, there’s every chance she made the right decision and that in a few years we’ll be praising her Red Sonja film. As long as Millennium doesn’t interfere too much, that is.
#Peace.Love.RedSonja
