Eva Maria Daniels, producer of independent features “Reality,” “What Maisie Knew” and “Joe Bell,” died on June 30 in London, after battling cancer. She was 43.
Throughout her career, Daniels maintained longstanding partnerships with producer Riva Marker and A24, worked as a producer for The Mill and Company 3 and served as a consultant for the Icelandic Film Fund.
“Eva died on the same terms as she lived. She played her cards close to her chest. She didn’t seek recognition when she had success. She didn’t seek pity when she suffered. I will miss her friendship greatly, but mostly I will miss seeing what she would have done next,” wrote director Börkur Sigthorsson on Facebook.
Most recently, Daniels executive produced the Berlin Film Festival selection and Max feature, “Reality,” which stars Sydney Sweeney and was directed by Tina Satter.
“Eva was hyper intelligent and had a gift for seeking out and supporting artists. She collected friends and art in every country she lived and imbued her friends and colleagues with confidence to trust their creative ambitions,” Marker, who worked with Daniels on “Reality,” said in a statement. “Her passing is a devastating loss to the industry. My friend Eva was kind and formidable and fun. She was an integral producer on all our collaborations and I’ll miss her dearly.”
Daniels began producing in 2009 with a credit on the TV series “P.O.V.” Soon after, she executive produced “The Romantics,” then, in 2012, both “What Maisie Knew” and “Goats.” “What Maisie Knew” was a modern adaptation of Henry James’ 1897 novel starring Julianne Moore, Steve Coogan and Alexander Skarsgard and played at the Toronto Film Festival.
She then served as executive producer on two films starring Richard Gere, both Oren Moverman features: “Time Out of Mind,” and “The Dinner,” in 2014 and 2017, respectively. She then worked with Mark Wahlberg on the 2020 feature, “Joe Bell.” She also served as producer on “Hold the Dark” in 2018 and served as the executive producer on the John Hawkes and Logan Lerman-led indie “End of Sentence” in 2019.
Daniels was born in Reykjavik on July 5, 1979, and attended the University of Iceland and eventually added a degree in film production from KBH Film & Fotoskole in 2003.
She is survived by her husband, Moritz Diller, and her 5-year-old son, Henry.
