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Director Coralie Fargeat Turns Down Marvel’s Offer for The Substance

Her film has been nominated for five Oscars, including Best Director and Picture

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After landing multiple Oscar nominations for 2025, Coralie Fargeat can confidently say she made the right choice by putting everything into The Substance—even if it meant saying no to Marvel.

The film has been one of the biggest surprises of 2024, starting with its Cannes Film Festival win for Best Screenplay and strong box office success. The momentum carried into 2025, earning Demi Moore a Golden Globe for Best Actress and securing major Academy Award nominations, including Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress (Demi Moore), Best Director, and Best Picture.

As The Substance heads toward the Oscars, Variety revealed that Fargeat made big sacrifices to make the film happen. Including turning down the chance to direct a Marvel movie. Marvel often brings in respected filmmakers for its projects. Chloé Zhao, who, after winning the Oscar for Best Director and Best Picture for Nomadland, took on the controversial Eternals.

Fargeat & Black Widow

Fargeat’s offer came before she gained recognition at the major U.S. awards, but it was still a major opportunity—she was in the running to direct Black Widow, which would have been a milestone in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the first film in the franchise directed entirely by a woman. In the end, the job went to Cate Shortland.

Even with such an exciting offer on the table, Fargeat chose to stay focused on The Substance—a decision that, considering the film’s success, seems to have been the right one. Something that can’t necessarily be said for the path Black Widow ultimately took.

Many fans were excited to see one of the most veteran Avengers finally get her own solo film. However, the pandemic—and the fact that Black Widow was released in 2021—led Disney to take a different approach. The studio opted for a simultaneous release in theaters and on Disney+ with an extra fee. Similar to what they had done with the live-action Mulan. The idea was to give audiences the option to watch from home if they wanted to avoid potential COVID-19 exposure.

However, this move didn’t sit well with Scarlett Johansson, who sued Disney over the release strategy. The legal battle lasted for months before ending in a multi-million dollar settlement. Meanwhile, audience reactions were mixed—some criticized the film’s special effects, while others simply expected more. Despite the controversy, Black Widow still earned over $379 million against a $200 million budget.