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2015 Sundance Institute Celebration Benefit

Source: Michael Tran / Getty

Ava DuVernay confirmed earlier this month that she would not be directing Marvel’s Black Panther film adaptation, despite reports. She detailed why she wouldn’t be even further at the BlogHer conference in New York City this past Saturday (July 18).

The Selma director, who originally accepted the offer to direct, said that she and the other execs just didn’t share the same vision for the film, according to The Hollywood Reporter. And if it couldn’t be made with DuVernay’s vision in mind, she had to bow out gracefully.

“At one point, the answer was yes, because I thought there was value in putting that kind of imagery into the culture in a worldwide, huge way, in a certain way: excitement, action, fun, all those things, and yet still be focused on a black man as a hero — that would be pretty revolutionary,” she continued. “These Marvel films go everywhere from Shanghai to Uganda, and nothing that I probably will make will reach that many people, so I found value in that. That’s how the conversations continued, because that’s what I was interested in. But everyone’s interested in different things.”

“What my name is on means something to me — these are my children,” she said of her body of work. “This is my art. This is what will live on after I’m gone. So it’s important to me that that be true to who I was in this moment. And if there’s too much compromise, it really wasn’t going to be an Ava DuVernay film.”

Despite missing out on the project, she is still excited to see the movie when it comes out.“I think it should be good when it comes out. I’ll be there, watching,” she said. We can’t say that we’re as excited for the film without Ava in the director’s seat.

MORE LINKS ON THE URBAN DAILY

Ava DuVernay’s AFFRM Launches Second Annual Membership Drive

Ava DuVernay, Black Filmmakers Unite On Twitter In A Show Of Solidarity

Ava DuVernay to Direct CBS Pilot ‘For Justice’

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