Pinar Toprak is about to make history alongside Brie Larson and Anna Boden. “Captain Marvel” marks Marvel’s first female-centric release, with Oscar-winning “Room” star Larson in the title role and Anna Boden behind the camera. Now word comes that Toprak will score the blockbuster, making her the first female composer “to score a major comic-book movie,” Variety reports.
Slated for release in March 2019, the pic is co-directed by Boden and Ryan Fleck, best known for acclaimed indies such as “Mississippi Grind” and “Half Nelson.” “Captain Marvel” is the first Marvel title to be helmed by a woman.
The story centers on Air Force pilot Carol Danvers, who gains super-strength and the ability to fly in an accident that fuses her DNA to an alien’s. The script was penned by Boden, Liz Flahive (“GLOW”), Meg LeFauve (“Inside Out”), Carly Mensch (“Orange is the New Black”), Nicole Perlman (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), and Geneva Robertson-Dworet (“Tomb Raider”), among others, according to IMDb.
The source notes that Toprak recently completed scoring the first season of SyFy’s “Krypton.” She’s also penned additional music for DC’s “Justice League.” Originally from Turkey, Toprak moved to the U.S. as a teen and has worked in video games as well as film and television.
Toprak has won two International Film Music Critics Association Awards for her work on “The Wind” and “The Lightkeepers.”
“It’s an incredible honor to be a part of the Marvel Universe,” Toprak wrote in an Instagram post. She thanked Boden and Fleck for giving her the “opportunity of a lifetime.”
The dearth of opportunities for female directors, writers, and actors has been receiving a lot of press as of late, but gender inequality in other fields in the entertainment industry has been largely overlooked. Women comprised just three percent of composers working on the top 250 grossing films of 2017, according to research from Dr. Martha Lauzen and the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film. Toprak’s hiring for “Captain Marvel” marks a major milestone.
