In this Sept. 16, 2015 file photo, directors Anna Boden, left, and Ryan Fleck attend a premiere for "Mississippi Grind" at the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
By Lindsey Bahr, Film Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --
The co-directors of the indie gambling drama "Mississippi Grind" are making the leap to superhero films.
A source close to the project who was not authorized to speak publicly says Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck will direct "Captain Marvel," which is scheduled for release in March 2019.
Brie Larson is set to star as the titular character in Marvel Studios' first female-centric superhero film. The script is being co-written by "Inside Out" writer Meg LeFauve and Nicole Perlman, who co-wrote "Guardians of the Galaxy."
Boden and Fleck, who also collaborated on the Ryan Gosling drama "Half Nelson," are the latest in a long string of indie directors signing up for studio blockbusters.
Representatives for the directing team did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)
Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.
Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.
"We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.
Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.
His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.
Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.
"Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More
