Niki Caro, Lorene Scafaria in race to direct 'Captain Marvel'

Directors Niki Caro, Lesli Linka Glatter and Lorene Scafaria have been shortlisted for the job of helming Marvel Studio's first female-centric superhero movie, "Captain Marvel".
A decision won't be made anytime soon as Marvel is being very deliberate in its search, several sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.
The movie has a release date of March 8, 2019.
Sources also say that there may be names yet to surface. Marvel had no comment.
Brie Larson is attached to star as Carol Danvers, an Air Force pilot who gains powers after her DNA becomes fused with an alien after an accident. "Guardians of the Galaxy" writer Nicole Perlman and "Inside Out's Meg LeFauve wrote the script.

Insiders say that the next stage will involve Marvel giving a treatment and documents to the directors in order to prepare a detailed presentation.

The three contenders were whittled from a shortlist of about a handful of contenders, which also included Jennifer Kent, helmer of the indie horror hit "The Babadook", and Jennifer Yuh, director of "Kung Fu Panda 2". Marvel has made finding a woman to direct the movie key in the search.
The three top choices have diverse backgrounds in films.
Caro broke through with 2002's "Whale Rider", the Oscar-nominated generational drama that looked at a young woman trying to break through a male-oriented culture.

She followed that up with "North Country", a rape drama that starred Charlize Theron.
Glatter hails from the television world, a side of the entertainment industry where female directors are better represented than in films.
She is the main director on "Homeland", the hit spy thriller from Showtime that stars Claire Danes, and is up for the outstanding director in a drama series honor at September's Emmy Awards.
Among her numerous helming credits are episodes of "The Newsroom", "True Blood", "Mad Men", "ER" among others.
Scafaria may seem like the outlier here but actually follows many of Marvel's patterns.
She made a name for herself as a writer of quirky rom-com "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist", which was her first writing credit, and later made her feature directorial debut with "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World", starring Steve Carell and Keira Knightley.

Scafaria also wrote and directed "The Meddler", the semi-autobiographical dramedy which starred Rose Byrne and Susan Sarandon.