The director has quietly put together one of the more impressive runs in Hollywood right now
Nia DaCosta is having a moment, and it keeps getting bigger. Fresh off amazing productions, Hedda and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the director is now reportedly set to helm Driver, an independently financed action feature starring two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali, according to World of Reel.
Ali will play a hardened Nigerian smuggler who, after losing everything, accepts one last job transporting migrants across Africa while fleeing ruthless enemies. The film has no studio attached at present but is expected to attract buyers quickly. Production is eyeing a January 2027 start in Spain and Morocco.
The news adds another significant credit to a filmmaker who has been quietly building one of the more interesting resumes in the industry. DaCosta has directed five features to date, Little Woods, Candyman, The Marvels, Hedda, and The Bone Temple, and has recently signed on to direct the first two episodes of Amazon Prime Video’s series adaptation of the Image Comics title Sex Criminals. She has also signed on to executive produce and write on the Hulu pilot Southern Bastards.
As for Ali, the casting marks a notable step forward for an actor who has been relatively quiet since his Oscar wins for Moonlight and Green Book. He was long attached to star in Marvel’s Blade remake, a project that went through years of development before ultimately falling apart. After that high-profile miss, Ali kept a lower profile before resurfacing in Jurassic World Birth. He is now building momentum again with several projects on the horizon, including a role in Season 2 of HBO’s Task, the film Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother reuniting him with former Blade director Bassam Tariq, and a return as Aaron Davis in Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.