The Substance Filmmaker Reveals She Turned Down Black Widow to Finish Her Oscar-Nominated Movie

By the time a movie hits theaters, it has already been on a long journey to get to the big screen and for Academy Award nominated The Substance, that journey includes a choice by filmmaker Coralie Fargeat to say no to Marvel. Speaking with Variety, it’s revealed that Fargeat turned down the opportunity to direct 2021’s Black Widow in favor of continuing her work on The Substance. Per the report, Fargeat was in preliminary talks with Marvel for the film, but her own project was the priority.

“I held on so tightly during the making of the film and the difficult postproduction phase, when everyone wanted me to make it less violent, less excessive, less gory, less frontal,” Fargeat said. “I knew that I had written this film to be more than — or at least the same level as — what I’m denouncing in the film.”

Variety’s report doesn’t get too deep into specifics about Fargeat’s brush with Marvel. It’s noted almost as an aside when discussing how the filmmaker was broke writing the script for The Substance and that the work was so important to her that she turned down various “lucrative offers” which included the talks with Marvel about Black Widow. Whatever the specifics, Fargeat’s dedication to her film paid off. The Substance has been nominated for five Academy Awards, including some of the most prestigious: Best Picture, Best Director, Original Screenplay, and Best Actress for star Demi Moore. The Substance’s Best Picture nomination makes it the first body-horror film to be nominated for the award. The film’s nominations are also noteworthy as it’s unusual for any independent film to garner such acclaim.

[RELATED: I Really Hope The Substance Helps the Oscars Rethink Horror]

“When I make a film, I make it to be at Cannes, to be at the Oscars,” Fargeat said. “I have this faith that this is what I want to do. I believe in the impossible.”

As for Black Widow, the film was ultimately directed by Cate Shortland from a screenplay by Eric Pearson. The film was hit with multiple release delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic before ultimately being released on July 9, 2021, simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+ with Premiere Access. The film received largely positive reviews from critics and was generally well-received by fans as well, though there was some criticism that the film came too late in the MCU as it arrived after Natasha Romanoff’s death in Avengers: Endgame. The film also received criticism for how it handled the character Taskmaster. That character will return for Thunderbolts* later this year and fans are hopeful that the upcoming MCU film could revamp the character, taking into consideration the Black Widow criticisms and giving the character a new life.

Will There Be More The Substance Movies?

When it comes to The Substance, while the film has gotten Academy recognition, fans shouldn’t expect a sequel or prequel to the film. Fargeat previously indicated that she’s not going to be revisiting the story, stating that the film’s point was to “present fresh things to the world.”

“No, the point of this movie is to present fresh things to the world,” Fargeat said. “Like, no sequels, no prequels, no number two [or] number three. So, I’m going to be still happy to bring something fresh to the world in a bit.

The Substance is available to stream on Mubi.