Inde Navarrette may soon be upgrading from indie horror starlet to a superhero-sized role in a Marvel movie.
The breakout beauty from indie blockbuster Obsession recently confirmed that she had a meeting with Jake Schreier, the Thunderbolts filmmaker who is directing Marvel Studios’ upcoming X-Men reboot.
“I’ve been taking a lot of meetings since Obsession has come out, and that’s been really nice, because you get to meet people, and you get to ask questions,” Navarrette told Variety. “And I thought what he brought to Thunderbolts was what I used to love about Marvel—it was character-driven. And so the whole time [in our meeting] I couldn’t stop yapping about how much I appreciated what he had brought to Marvel.”
The sought-after actress stopped short of confirming whether or not she and Schreier discussed a specific role for her to play in an X-Men movie. “That’s the luxury that I have right now, meeting all of these different kinds of people, and not all of them turn into projects,” she explained. “It’ll be, I just really wanna work with you, and I’ve seen this project of yours and this and this and this. So I just really wanted to congratulate him on bringing back my favorite thing of Thunderbolts. And he’s a very sweet person.”
However, Navarrette did share which Marvel mutant she’d want to play if she ever had the opportunity.
“Mystique has always been super cool,” she said when asked about her dream Marvel role. “Growing up, I remember watching the behind-the-scenes process of all the prosthetics. That was super cool for me. I would always watch behind-the-scenes of a lot of stuff. Pirates of the Caribbean, I remember, was a big thing that I would watch the BTS of, X-Men, the prosthetics. I just find it so fascinating.”
Mystique was first portrayed by old-school Maxim cover star Rebecca Romijn in the 2000s X-Men trilogy. Jennifer Lawrence took over the role in the 2010s prequel series that kicked off with 2011’s X-Men: First Class. Romijn is set to revive the role in Avengers: Doomsday later this year, marking the first full-blown crossover between Fox’s original X-Men cast and Marvel Studios’ Avengers.
Elsewhere in the interview, Navarrette downplayed online speculation that she could portray Felicia Hardy/Black Cat in a future Spider-Man project in the wake of Spider-Man: Brand New Day breaking the biggest opening weekend record with a $360 million haul.
“I don’t know who that is,” she said after Variety explained that social media users have fan-cast her in the role. “I love Spider-Man, and I really love the Tom Holland Spider-press that’s been happening right now.”
Navarrette added that she’s definitely open to joining a future Marvel project, even if that particular rumor was unfounded. “Every time that I see something like this, I’ll giggle, ‘cause obviously I know the truth,” she said. “But I would love to be a part of Marvel. I think it’s fun, especially since I grew up watching X-Men, the 2000 X-Men.”
Navarrette’s starmaking role in Obsession has made her one of the buzziest young actresses in Hollywood. Her multifaceted turn as Nikki helped drive the indie horror hit into one of the hottest movies of the year, earning an astounding $459 million at the worldwide box office—a total eclipsing the likes of franchise fare like Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, Supergirl, and Moana despite Obsession costing just $750,000 to make.
Schreier’s X-Men has yet to unveil a full cast, but Deadline reports that Samara Weaving had joined the film as Emma Frost, the steely character previously portrayed by former Mad Men actress January Jones.