The talents on Variety's Hollywood’s New Leaders 2020, all under 40, have prevailed in these times of pandemic and reckoning with racial injustice. They manage teams working remotely while also coping with a disrupted entertainment marketplace.
Alum Nia DaCosta, writer-director, Candyman, 30, is on that list. DaCosta grew up inspired by “the crazy white dudes making films in the ’70s” including Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. She attended NYU Tisch School of the Arts not only because it was Scorsese’s alma mater, but also because “it was the only place you could still shoot on film.” After her feature film debut, “Little Woods,” snagged the Nora Ephron Prize at Tribeca, DaCosta landed the plum assignment of directing the new Candyman, a “spiritual sequel” to the 1992 horror film. Up next, she’ll be the first Black woman to direct a Marvel film as she takes over Captain Marvel 2, a project she says, “I can say absolutely nothing about.”