After years of only making small appearances inMCUprojects, Nick Fury will finally return to the MCU as a main character in Marvel Studios’Secret Invasion. While Samuel L. Jackson’s return to prominence has been a source of enticement for most fans, it seems one person may not have been as excited about his involvement.
Secret Invasionis the first Marvel Studios series to take place during Phase 5 of theMCU. The show will follow Nick Fury as he tries to stop a rogue group of Skrulls from taking over Earth. The show stars Jackson alongside Ben Mendelsohn, Cobie Smulders, Emilia Clarke,Oscar winner Olivia Colman, and Don Cheadle. The series initially had two directors attached to it: Ali Selim and Thomas Bezucha. Bezucha left the project early in its development - which may have resulted from his meeting with Jackson.
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In an interview withCollider, Colman and Jackson discussed Bezucha’s departure, with Jackson saying, “Interestingly enough when I first started [Secret Invasion] Ali [Selim] was one of two directors. And I met with him (Selim) and then I met with the other director and the next day the other director (Bezucha) had quit.” Following Jackson’s revelation, Colman jokingly asked, “Was it you?” Jackson couldn’t confirm whether their meeting caused Bezucha to leave the project, but he confessed that he had the same thought. “I had no idea what I said to him” he replied. “I asked my assistant, ‘Did I say something that scared him or what?'”
Jackson said he enjoyed working with one director for the whole season, saying, “But I think it’s great that Ali stuck, and I think it’s even greater that they allowed him to direct all the episodes. So it gave us a consistency of idea or concept that he had for what he wanted the show to be. So he was able to shape it in that particular way, or convince us that we were shaping it in a way that was our way, but turned out to be his way.” Before working onSecret Invasion, Selim directed episodes ofCriminal Minds,The Looming Tower, andManhunt,among other shows.His work onSecret Invasionmarks the first time Selim has directed a show’s entire season, which is rare for TV.
While it seems unlikely Jackson single-handedly made a director leave the project, the timing of Bezucha’s departure is odd. Fans can only wonder how the series would be different with two directors instead of one, especially since Bezucha’s previous work is more lighthearted than Selim’s. Selim’s past work in dramatic television makes him well-prepared to handle a series that will likely err on the more serious side regarding tone.
It is important to note that you can have too much of a good thing, and someone like Bezucha could have potentially provided more levity to balance out the show. That being said, it sounds like Jackson felt the show achieved a sense of consistency under Selim’s direction, sohoweverSecret Invasionhas turned out, it seems fans can at least expect a well-crafted story.
