Hot of the success of her debut feature Promising Young Woman, writer, director, and actress Emerald Fennell has been hired to pen the script for a live-action feature film adaptation of DC Comics character Zatanna for theaters. Fennell recently made history by becoming the first woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for best director for a first feature and she also just took home a WGA award for best original screenplay.
Fennell’s Promising Young Woman tells the story of Cassie (Carey Mulligan), a determined young woman who spends her nights confronting predatory men at clubs, ultimately seeking revenge for the wrongs committed against a friend of hers in college. The pitch-black comedy/thriller has been one of the most talked-about movies of 2020 and continues to sweep awards season. The film earned 5 Academy Award nominations, including three for Fennell and a Best Actress nomination for the film's lead, Carey Mulligan. Fennell has also served as showrunner on the second season of BBC America’s Killing Eve and as an actress, she recently portrayed Camilla Parker Bowles on the fourth season of the Netflix series The Crown.
Despite being lesser known than her other DC counterparts, Zatanna has been around in comics for almost as long as other famous superheroes like Spider-Man. Created by Gardner Fox and artist Murphy Anderson in 1964, Zatanna Zatara is a magician with a variety of superpowers that she genetically inherited from her magician father Giovanni “John” Zatara. Zatanna is a Homo Magi, a human born with the ability to use magic, and is often seen casting spells by speaking them backward. She can manipulate reality, move objects with her magic, and read/alter people's minds.
The character has appeared alongside members of the Justice League, was retconned into having had a childhood with Batman at one point, and has been romantically involved with the supernatural detective and Sting lookalike, John Constantine. She has also been a part of the DC superhero team Justice League Dark: a group that deals with more supernatural phenomenons than the regular Justice League is used to handling. Zatanna made her live-action debut as a reoccurring character in the final three seasons of Smallville, where she was portrayed by actress Serinda Swan.
Variety reports the Zatanna film is set to be produced by J.J. Abrams' company Bad Robot, which is also producing a John Constantine show and a Justice Large Dark series for HBO Max. Whether or not Zatanna will appear in those shows is unclear at the moment. No casting has been announced as of yet, but some fans have shown interest in the rumors that Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke was being eyed for the role.
As a powerful sorceress, Zatanna shows some similarities to Marvel's very own sorcerer supreme, Doctor Strange. Perhaps DC is introducing their own magic-based character into their movie universe in hopes that fans of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange will be interested in another mystical comic book character. Marvel also saw some success going this route with WandaVision, whose lead character Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch, is set to appear in the upcoming sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Promising Young Woman available to rent/buy on digital today.
Source: Variety