4 Things to Know About Nia DaCosta, the Insanely Impressive Captain Marvel 2 Director

Updated on 8/7/2020 at 8:55 AM

Getty | Jim Spellman

We couldn't be more excited about the news that Nia DaCosta has been tapped to direct the untitled Captain Marvel 2 movie! The 30-year-old director is one of Hollywood's buzziest young names, with one sleeper hit in the bag and another much-anticipated collaboration on the horizon, and now she's about to be the first Black woman to direct a Marvel movie. Since she's relatively new to the industry, though, you might not have heard much about her until now — but we can fix that! Ahead, we've rounded up four of the most important things you should know about DaCosta before she joins the Marvel universe. You'll see why we're so confident that this iconic superhero is in the best of hands!

How Did Nia DaCosta Get Her Start?

According to a 2019 interview with IndieWire, DaCosta figured out early on that she wanted to be a filmmaker — and it all started with AP English in high school. "After we read the book [Heart of Darkness], we watched Apocalypse Now, because it's an adaptation, and I fell in love with the movie, as well as the harrowing story about its making, and I fell in love with Coppola's audacity."

A New York native, she later attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and eventually became a production assistant in her quest to work her way up the industry ladder. In 2015, she was selected for the 2015 Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Labs, where she developed a script that would become her first feature: Little Woods.

What Movies Has Nia DaCosta Made?

DaCosta broke onto the scene with 2018's Little Woods, a crime thriller starring Lily James and Tessa Thompson as two estranged sisters in rural North Dakota who are facing financial and personal crises. It won the Nora Ephron award for "excellence in storytelling by a female writer or director" at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and was distributed through North America in early 2019.

She's also the cowriter and director of Candyman, the upcoming sequel to the famous 1992 slasher film. The movie was originally slated to be released in June, but due to the pandemic, it's been pushed back to September at the earliest.

What Does Nia DaCosta Hope to Do?

DaCosta has only been on the scene for a short while, but she's already making a splash in all the right ways. "I just want to tell good stories in ways that will shine light on lives rarely seen on screen, because stories can push humanity forward," she told IndieWire. "And so I think a diversity of stories is really important in raising awareness and creating empathy. It's through this medium of film that many of us learn about and communicate with one another, especially with people we don't know."

Is Nia DaCosta on Social Media?

You bet! Like so many millennials, DaCosta often shares her thoughts on Twitter, @NiaDaCosta. She doesn't currently have her own Instagram, though, so make sure not to follow any fake accounts pretending to be her!