While it came out that F. Gary Gray was, like Ava DuVernay, being discussed as a potential BLACK PANTHER director (before FAST 8 made that all but impossible), Marvel insists that they’re not actively seeking a helmer until they’ve got a script in hand.
And The Wrap says it’s likely that said script will be written by in-house scribe Joe Robert Cole.
Cole’s only produced script has been for a RASHOMON-like indie he directed called AMBER LAKE about three sisters who have varied accounts of their father’s death. He’s a part of the same Marvel writer’s program that Nicole Perlman was part of. He’s also written a draft for INHUMANS, but that’s “not expected to be used by the studio.”
And yes, Cole is black.
If it’s his script that’s going to lock down whatever director they pursue for this thing, then hopefully it’s worth a damn and not a slapped together hack-job. Perlman had her stuff pretty heavily re-written by James Gunn on GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, so there’s no guarantee that Cole’s script is going to be shot exactly as he writes it, but they’ll likely be building off of his template from here on out.
BLACK PANTHER leaves Wakanda on July 6th, 2018.
