‘Transparent’ creator Jill Soloway is taking over from Bryan Singer as director of the planned adaptation of ‘Red Sonja’.
The 53-year-old director – who helmed ‘The X-Men’ franchise and last year’s Queen biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ – was reportedly offered a big-money deal by Millennium to take over the reins of the big screen adaptation of the 1970s ‘Conan the Barbarian’ comic book spin-off.
However, after he was accused of raping Cesar Sanchez-Guzman when he was a 17-year-old boy when the #MeToo movement was set up following the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations last year, which he has profusely denied, the movie had been shelved.
Now Soloway, also 53, is stepping up to the role and can’t wait to bring the Marvel comic book character to life.
The filmmaker told Deadline.com: "I can’t wait to bring Red Sonja’s epic world to life.
"Exploring this powerful mythology and evolving what it means to be a heroine is an artistic dream come true."
The movie had been in the works since 2008 when Robert Rodriguez teamed with his then-girlfriend Rose McGowan for the project before pulling out.
Meanwhile, Singer recently agreed to pay $150,000 to Cesar, but denied "even knowing" him and though he has maintained his innocence over claims he raped his accuser at a yacht party in 2003, he agreed to hand over the sum because it would be cheaper than fighting the matter in court.
Cesar filed for bankruptcy in 2014 and the case was discharged, but later reopened to include his case against the ‘X-Men’ filmmaker as an asset as any proceeds from his December 2017 lawsuit would go to his creditors.
Earlier this year, four men came forward to accuse the ‘Usual Suspects’ director of sexually assaulting them in their teens.
In April 2014, Michael Egan accused him of raping him in 1999 when he was just 17, but the case was later dropped due to discrepancies in the alleged victim’s account of what had happened.
Singer has always denied the allegations against him.
Jill Soloway to replace Bryan Singer as red Sonja director
