The upcoming Red Sonja movie has found a new writer and director.
Jill Soloway, best known for their award-winning Amazon series Transparent, will helm the project for Millennium Films, Deadline reported Friday. Soloway will be replacing controversial director Bryan Singer, following an investigative piece in The Atlantic where multiple accusers came forward with claims that the X-Men director sexually assaulted them when they were underage.
The plot of Soloway’s script is being kept under wraps, obviously, but we do know that the filmmaker’s take is expected to be a bold one. Soloway’s Topple Productions partner Andrea Sperling will be a producer on the film.
“I can’t wait to bring Red Sonja’s epic world to life,” Soloway released in a statement to Deadline. “Exploring this powerful mythology and evolving what it means to be a heroine is an artistic dream come true.”
This is Soloway’s first project after directing The Transparent Movie Musicale Finale, which will run on Amazon this fall. Soloway will be looking for, or is currently looking for, an actor to play Red Sonja.
While Soloway’s hire is a welcome and progressive step forward on the project, Millennium Films’ initial response to the Singer story strongly hinted that such a hiring wouldn’t happen. The company’s CEO, Avi Lerner, released a controversial statement to The Hollywood Reporter where he slammed The Atlantic’s story as “agenda driven fake news.” Lerner also doubled down on his intent to keep Singer onboard the project. In February, the movie was said to have been “put on hold” following the controversy — which was code for saying Singer was fired from the movie without having to say he was fired.
Red Sonja began as a Marvel Comics character in the 1970s, and Millennium Films has been trying to bring the character to the big screen for over a decade. Her first movie, from 1985, featured Brigitte Nielsen as the heroine opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Soloway is an incredibly talented storyteller; we can’t wait to see what they do with the final film.
