While promoting his new film Red Sparrow, director Francis Lawrence made an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast and was asked about opportunities with Marvel and DC.
Lawrence’s first film was Constantine which starred Keanu Reeves as the titular DC Comics character. Despite his feature film debut being an adaptation of a comic book story, Lawrence admits he is not fully drawn by comic book stories at the moment.
During the podcast, Lawrence mentions that his name was thrown around for Marvel films not tied to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Lawrence also mentions something interesting in regards to DC (43:41 mark):
“I’ve never had a Marvel meeting – I’ve never had a Marvel meeting with Marvel people. I have been offered Marvel material at other studios and haven’t been interested… and I’ve had a DC meeting.”
Lawrence does mention in the podcast that despite not being too drawn by comic book stories, he saw Wonder Woman and enjoyed it, calling it “much warmer” and “much more charming” than he imagined while also praising Gal Gadot’s performance and presence onscreen.
In regards to the MCU, Lawrence admits to enjoying the franchise for the most part, but finds the series a bit formulaic with the exception of one film in particular:
“I think that they all tend to be really, really solid and some of them much better than solid, but there is a sameness to them. I have to say the one standout for me so far from the ones that I’ve seen was the first Guardians of the Galaxy. That one knocked my socks off. It felt like an outlier in that world in terms of personality, originality and emotion. All of it came together in a really, truly amazing way.”
Lawrence had previously directed I Am Legend, Water for Elephants, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2. Red Sparrow is his fourth consecutive collaboration with Academy Award-winner Jennifer Lawrence (no relation).
Here is the synopsis for Red Sparrow:
Dominika Egorova is many things.
A devoted daughter determined to protect her mother at all costs.
A prima ballerina whose ferocity has pushed her body and mind to the absolute limit.
A master of seductive and manipulative combat.When she suffers a career-ending injury, Dominika and her mother are facing a bleak and uncertain future. That is why she finds herself manipulated into becoming the newest recruit for Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people like her to use their bodies and minds as weapons. After enduring the perverse and sadistic training process, she emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow the program has ever produced. Dominika must now reconcile the person she was with the power she now commands, with her own life and everyone she cares about at risk, including an American CIA agent who tries to convince her he is the only person she can trust.
Directed by Francis Lawrence, Red Sparrow stars Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Mary-Louise Parker and Jeremy Irons.
Red Sparrow will be released in theaters on March 2, 2018.
Source: Happy Sad Confused
