Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / Feminists Around the World: Nia DaCosta

Transcript

Feminists Around the World: Nia DaCosta · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I come to stuff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I've never told you, protection of iHeartRadio and this month,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: which I actually think this is coming out, not in
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the month that we are recording. I think this is
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: coming out in twenty twenty four, but right now we're
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: doing one of our big final recording sessions of the year.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: It is still December twenty twenty three, and Samantha and
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: I did a bit of a switch for the holidays,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: So Samantha did the fictional women around the World this month,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: and it was really fun for me to be on
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: the other side. Won't tell me more.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: I don't having so much fun with it and being
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: a two parter because I was like, let me tell
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: you about the entirety.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: It was great. I loved it, and a lot of
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: you have already written it have been like that was
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: very funny here they were talking about because I don't
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: think that's come out as we recorded it, but they
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: were talking about the Frozen episode, where I was like,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: what are you talking about? Where we did talk about Yes,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Once upon a Time, which I don't feel bad spoiling
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: because this does come out after that, even though it
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: hasn't come out yet. That's the fun of publishing in
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: the world of Sminty. Yes, but I am taking one
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: of the feminists around the world segments in this exchange. Yeah,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: so welcome, And I am cheating because I'm doing an
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: American woman, which we typically try to avoid. Look, look,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: you did a two parter. Cheat. Yes, we do try
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: to avoid that usually. But I have been meaning to
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: talk about this and this person ever since his marvel
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: came out. The marvels came out excuse me, which we
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: saw together and enjoyed, me and Samantha. Yes, yes, so
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: today we are talking about American filmmaker Nia DaCosta, who
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: was born in Brooklyn in nineteen eighty nine. Oh. Also,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: timestamp on this December nineteenth, twenty twenty three is when
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: recording it. I only say that because there's a lot
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: of things have changing very quickly in the story that
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: I will talk about a little bit at the end.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: But anyway, Yes, I was born in Brooklyn in nineteen
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: eighty nine. Her mom had moved to the US from
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Jamaica and was one of the founding vocalists of Oral
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: a Girl. As a kid, Tacosta wanted to become a poet,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: but as she got older in her teenage years, she
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: really fell in love with film, and so to that end,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: she enrolled at New York University Tish School of the Arts,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: and she had a lot of hard experiences there. Once
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: she graduated, she started working as a production assistant for television,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: working with directors like Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. She
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: went on to write the script for Little Woods, which
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: I'm sure some of you have seen heard of. It
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: was one of twelve projects selected for twenty fifteen's sun
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Dance Screenwriters and Director's Labs. DaCosta met and befriended Tessa Thompson,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: who was later cast in Littlewoods, and through Kickstarter, DaCosta
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: was able to fund and film Little Woods, and that
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: made it her first feature film. When it premiered at
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Tribeca in twenty eighteen, it was awarded the Nora Efron
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Award for quote Excellence in Storytelling by a Female Writer
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: or Director. The movie debuted in theaters in twenty nineteen,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: and then interviews from around that time, DaCosta spoke about
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the importance to her around telling stories about women who
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: were active and not passive. Okay, So, after finishing Little Woods,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: she directed two episodes of Top Boy, and in twenty eighteen,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: she co wrote and directed Candy Man The New One. Obviously.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: When it came out in twenty twenty one and earned
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: the top box office spot, she became the first black
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: woman director to have a film debut at that spot.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: She was hired to direct The Marvels in twenty twenty,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: only the fourth woman to direct a Marvel movie and
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: the youngest director and the first Black woman to direct
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: a Marvel movie. When The Marvels came out, it made
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: forty six point one million dollars, which was the best
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: opening box office ever for a black woman director. Here
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: is a quote from Variety. DaCosta also wanted to satisfy
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: the blurred black nerd in her who'd grown up absorbed
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: in comic book culture. The Brooklyn born filmmaker was especially
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: keen to tell Kamala's story because she was a huge
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: fan of the Miss Marvel comics, which debuted when she
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: was in her teens. Usually, I'm not like, I like
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: this person because I see myself a Tri State area
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: nerd who loves superhero and comic stuff and writes fan fiction,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: DaCosta says. But she's a great street level hero in
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Air to Spider Man, and here's a continuing quote. Monica
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: is wrestling with the grief of losing her mother Maria
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: and feeling like Carol them why Kamala must learn that
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: her idol is just another person. Carol's journey is about
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: learning that the fate of the world doesn't rest wholly
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: on her shoulders. Because Carol has been on her own
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: for so long, it was important to show what it
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: is actually like for this woman to live a life
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: where she thinks she's the only thing holding everything together,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: which is a story that a lot of women can
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: relate to. And yes, through her work, she has received
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Mini Awards nominations, and she has been She's on so
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: many upcoming projects. She's very, very busy, which is a
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: part of what I want to talk about next. But
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: I really don't want to focus on this because I
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: want to celebrate this and not bring it down. But
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: we should. One of the reasons it was on my
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: mind was because when this movie came out, there was
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: the unfortunately expected sexist, racist response, like the cast is
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: mostly women, it's a diverse cast, there's this black woman director.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: And then even though it made a lot of money,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: and there's been a lot of conversation about how we
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: frame like movies made by men who don't make a
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: lot of money versus movies made by women who don't
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: make as much money as you're expecting. But it's kind
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: of the same that there has been a lot of
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: conversation around it, and around Disney's response around it. If
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: they give money to the difficulty of working in such
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: a big machine came up a lot, and apparently it's
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: kind of understood that you don't get final editing. Say
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: so Dicosa did speak about this, and this is from
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: that Variety article. There are pockets where you go because
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: you're like, I'm a super fan. I want to exist
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: in the space of just adoration, which includes civilized critique.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: She explains, Then there are pockets that are really virluent
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: and violent and racist and sexist and homophobic and all
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: those awful things. And I choose the side of the light.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: That's the part of fandom I'm most obtracted to. So
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: she said this, which to me totally makes sense, but
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: then a lot of people purposely misinterpreted it or like choose, Oh,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Marvel fans are horrible. Look what she's done. She literally
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: is like, no, that's good, right.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: I don't understand how they misinterpreted that.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well they did.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: They just took out the word pockets and then saw it.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: They left it in there perfectly, but they okay, yes,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, proving the point pretty much. Also, friend of
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: the Joe Bridgett did a whole episode on this if
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: you want to know more about it. And I do
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: think there's a lot of things going on right now.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: There's there's Marvel fatigue. I think there's franchise fatigue in general.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: It's kind of uncertain territory Disney is panicking and yeah,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: I mean it's it's weird because it's always like we
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: had fun watching it. I thought it was a good time.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: I thought it was different, it was unique. Yeah, and
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: that doesn't mean it's perfect. Like I don't know, we
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: have to be on this ground where it's like it
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: has flaws. Therefore, see, I think it was better than
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: some of the more recent Marvels. So it's just I
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: feel like we're having this conversation in a way that
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: is not consistent. I also think, like I know DaCosta
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: has spoken about this. Here's a quote from her growth
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: has to stop at some point. As you make more
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: and more films, you want those films to be more interesting,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: more dynamic, and to appeal to different audiences. But that
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: requires risk, and there's a conundrum where you're so big
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: that you can't take risk. I think that's what the
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: audience is feeling. They're like, I've seen it before, and
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: I liked it the first time. And here's a quote
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: from ap But it's also a big budget attempt to
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: try some new things. It's the first Marvel movie to
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: feature not just all female leads, but a female villain
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: as well. DaCosta thirty three, is the youngest filmmaker to
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Helm and MCU release. More importantly, she's the first black
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: woman to direct Marvel movie thirty three. I know, I
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: don't think about it too hard. Some happen, Okay, I mean, no,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: you're amazing, get it.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: I'm proud of you.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Can you do you? But damn quick? Congratulations? Yes? And
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: another thing, And I was thinking about this when we
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: were doing our wrap up episodes at the end of
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. This came out like literally the day
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: the strikes ended, so they couldn't advertise it, and so
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: I think that's also been a problem, both in like
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: what Disney does, but also yes, they couldn't advertise during
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: the strikes, and I feel like a lot of movies now,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: and I'm a Marvel fan, I just don't know what's
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: coming out anymore necessarily or when it's coming out, which
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: used to be I would know. But a lot of
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: articles have also said things like in Kanto came out,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: wasn't number one, did pretty well, but was like, you know,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: not what it became through streaming. Like I think there's
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: also just a shift in how we watch things right
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: going on, honestly, but there has been a lot of
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: drama about this, and I'm just gonna skim over it
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: because I've but basically people are sort of like, what's
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: going on with Disney. We're pretty much trying to blame
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: her and throw her under the bus, and like maybe
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: saying some quotes you shouldn't be saying about like she
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: went and did filmed another thing from a different country
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: when we were in post, but that's like normal people do.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: That she had told them she was going to do
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: it and they agreed. Recently at like Disney's big what
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: are we going to Do? Meeting at the end of
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: the year, bob By Group was like there wasn't enough
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: supervision on set. But here's a quote from Gizmoto as
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: that aforementioned Variety report lobbied and has been a frequent
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: criticism of the Marvel machine even at the height of
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: its influence in Hollywood. Marvel Studios is known for heavy
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: executive involvement in its films, even when working with directors
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: seemingly hired for their own unique visions and approaches, and
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: to fix it in post attitude that the studio is
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: at least apparently trying to turn away from. But still
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: it's also a wild thing to say when the Marvels
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: itself still ultimately feels like a product of the studio's
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: preponderance for metaling and poking. No matter what you ultimately
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: think about the Marvels itself, positively or negatively, Disney's increasingly
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: public critiques of DeCosta are just starting to feel weird
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: and weirder the higher up the food chain that they
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: start coming from. The studio is so concerned as to
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: why this specific film among a series of underperformers in
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty three didn't work, There has to be a
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: better way of approaching that concern than throwing its director
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: under the bus YEP. Yeah, so there's a lot going
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: on with it. That's why I want to put the
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: date at the top. But yes, it is part of
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: a larger, separate issue conversation. I'm sure we'll have. I
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: have a lot of thoughts about it, but yeah, DaCosta
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: is by no means done. She's currently filming something with
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Tessa Thompson right now, Like I think she's gonna be get.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: That's so absurd. Like I actually really enjoyed it. There
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: are things that I'm like, Okay, don't love that part.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Singing a whole singing planet spoiler alert was was interesting esus.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: So when I saw it was like a Korean drama. Dude,
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: it was like, wait, but like that, but it was funny.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: But the entire thing was like as many like heavy
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: handed things that Marvel tries to do. It was fun
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: It was both of those things, and it was good
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: to see that nuanced level with the three very different
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: people bringing in some amazing characters and like character qualities.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: And I love Kamala. I think she's a wonderful edition.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: And I really hope the next generation of Marvel's Avengers,
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: whatever they're gonna be called. I know you and Joey
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: had killed me and I already forgot, so I can't
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: wait wherever relearn. But like, I think that's like those
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: two are really great characters, if I say, most of y'all,
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: y'all don't know if you haven't seen this, so we
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: might need to do a spoiler Saturday for this one.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love Miss Marvel was one of my favorite
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: comics well when I went my second wave of comics
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: when I was in like right after college, Miss Marvel
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: was one of my favorites.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: I think they've built a great backstory for her. She
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: might be one of my favorites. Like, and I don't
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: love Marvel like that, Like I watched all of them.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: I watch all of them, all of them, I watched
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: most of them, but like, I think Miss Marvel was
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: one of the most the better, like well rounded developed characters.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Thus far, of course they're going to go back and
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: ruin things, I'm sure, but thus far, I like it.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, yeah, no, she's great, And I'm the actress
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: is great because she is a Marvel fan and that's
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: kind of how she got the role, and so she
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: has one and they're interesting to read. But yes, yes
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: we will come back and talk about it more. But
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: thank you for letting me do this, swapperoo, even though
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: I cheated.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: And we still came back to marvel I love it.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: I know you know I'm going to don't act surprise.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: But I enjoyed every bit of it.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Good job. Yes, thank you and listeners hopefully that you
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: have enjoyed You have enjoyed our little or switcher as well.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: You.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: If you have any topic ideas people we should talk about,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: fictional or otherwise, you can let us know. You can
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: email U at Stephanie mom Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: You can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: or on Instagram and TikTok at steff I never told you.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: We have a tea public store and a book where's
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Marvelous discussed. Yes, you can get it wherever you get
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: your books. Thanks as always to our super producer Christina,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: executive producer Maya, and your contributor Joey. Thank you and
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: thanks to you for listening. Stephan Ever Told You is
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts on my heart Radio,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: you can check out the iHeartRadio app Apple podcast or
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.