Nia DaCosta Responds to Reports That She Left 'The Marvels' Production Early

With the release of The Marvels this Friday, Nia DaCosta will become the youngest director to helm an MCU film.

As with everything Marvel these days, however, production on The Marvels was anything but easy.

Photo: Entertainment Weekly

A Troubled Production

A recent report from Variety revealed that the film needed “four weeks of reshoots” to make the film’s plot coherent. Additionally, DaCosta reportedly ruffled some feathers when she left for London to work on her next film, Hedda, starring Tessa Thompson, while The Marvels was still in post-production.

Photo: Entertainment Weekly

“If you’re directing a $250 million movie, it’s kind of weird for the director to leave with a few months to go,” a source familiar with the production told Variety.

DaCosta Responds

In a recent interview on the YouTube channel Jake’s Takes, however, DaCosta stated that her departure from The Marvels “wasn’t this dramatic sort of thing people are thinking it is.”

According to DaCosta the reason she had to leave The Marvels early, was that the studio had delayed the release of the film four times. This turned the film from a “two-year” process to which she was “deeply committed” to “a three-and-a-half year process.”

Photo: NPR

“For me personally, it was that they moved the date of the film four different times,” said DaCosta regarding her early departure. “They knew the entire time that I had an obligation—a green-lit movie with people who were waiting for me. And I pushed that and then I pushed it again and then I pushed it again. Eventually, we all knew that if [‘The Marvels’] pushes again, I’m not going to be in LA to do the rest of this in person.”

In the end, DaCosta insists that by the time she left the production, everyone was on board with where the film stood.

Photo: Entertainment Weekly

“By the time I left to start prep on my next film, everyone was so clear about what the film was, what we wanted,” she said.

‘The Marvels’ May Be In Trouble

DaCosta leaving post-production on The Marvels is mostly a non-story. Her perceived lack of involvement in the final days of the film’s production, however, will likely be closely examined should the film struggle at the box office. Currrently, The Marvels is tracking towards a disastrous opening.