Secret Invasion director Ali Selim has revealed that he was told to not read the Marvel comics that the Disney+ series is named after.
Did Ali Selim read the Secret Invasion comics before directing the show?
While speaking with ScreenRant, Selim was asked how he chose which parts of the Secret Invasion comic event to adapt while directing the series. The director revealed that he was actually told not to read the comics, as “it had nothing to do with what we’re trying to do here.”
“When I took on this job as director, I didn’t write the script,” Selim explained. “So a lot of those decisions were made by Kyle Bradstreet and the other team of writers that we had. The first thing I was told is don’t read the comics. It had nothing to do with what we’re trying to do here. This story was really born out of the electricity created between Sam Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn or Nick Fury and Talos in Captain Marvel.
“And they said, ‘Oh, we got to do something with that.’ So they found a story that would serve that relationship and would expand the MCU and other characters who are not in the comic books. I think it’s a story unto itself.”
Secret Invasion hails from head writer Kyle Bradstreet and director Ali Selim. The series features the return of MCU vets Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Cobie Smulders, Martin Freeman, and Don Cheadle, as they reprise their respective roles as Nick Fury, Talos, Maria Hill, Everett Ross, Rhodey. Joining them are Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Dermot Mulroney, Killian Scott, and more. The first episode of the series is now available to stream on Disney+.
Executive producers are Selim, Bradstreet, Kevin Feige, Jonathan Schwartz, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Brian Tucker, Jennifer L. Booth, Allana Williams, and Brant Englestein.
“In Secret Invasion, set in the present-day Marvel Cinematic Universe, Fury learns of a clandestine invasion of Earth by a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls,” reads the logline. “Fury joins his allies, including Everett Ross, Maria Hill, and the Skrull Talos, who has made a life for himself on Earth. Together they race against time to thwart an imminent Skrull invasion and save humanity.”
