‘The Marvels’ Director Pinpoints the Best Notes to Get From Test Screenings

The Big Picture

• Test screenings are an important part of the filmmaking process and can provide valuable feedback for directors.
• The Marvels director Nia DaCosta values the input of trusted individuals with good taste in shaping her films.
• DaCosta notes that it’s important for directors to discern between feedback that improves their vision and feedback that changes the film to someone else’s liking.

Test screenings can be an incredibly helpful and informative link in the creative process between production and premiere. As with most major productions, when working with Marvel Studios on the upcoming film, The Marvels, filmmaker Nia DaCosta took her film through this important step. But, trusting one’s gut and disregarding a piece of advice or vice versa can be an anxiety-inducing decision to make for directors when in the final stretch of showing off their project to the world. In a recent interview with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, DaCosta revealed how she handles the feedback and the way that she moves forward with notes.

When asked about how to interpret notes received during the screening process DaCosta said, “That’s sort of every filmmaking process where, whether it’s getting notes from your executives — because even if you’re not doing test screenings in the way that Marvel does, I usually like to just get a group of people I trust and who have great taste together, and that’s really helpful for me.” When asked about a piece of feedback that she received for The Marvels that helped shape the final product, DaCosta added, “I can’t think of anything specific because it literally is, you get every kind of note you could possibly think about. Literally, someone said, ‘I don’t like that tank top.’ What am I gonna do about that? Literally nothing.”

Turning inward and reflecting on what she would be looking to point out if a peer came to her asking for an extra set of eyes, DaCosta continues,

“I think it’s really like, and I think about this when I give notes, ‘Am I giving a note because I’m asking them or wanting them to do it the way I would have done it, or am I giving a note that is improving what they actually wanted to do?’ And so those are the two kinds of notes that you get usually, and I think the ones that you take are the ones that improve the movie that you’re trying to make, and the ones that you leave behind are the ones that make a movie the way someone else would.”

Nia DaCosta’s Road to Marvel

Making her directorial debut with the brilliant crime drama, Little Woods, DaCosta has quickly become a highly sought-after director. Blending the old with the new, her sophomore title, Candyman included names such as Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Teyonah Parris in a slasher flick that served as a sequel to the 1992 classic of the same name. Though it faced several setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, even that couldn’t slow down DaCosta’s rise and the upward trajectory that would next put her in line with Marvel Studios.

In The Marvels, DaCosta reteams with Candyman star Parris as well as Brie Larson and Iman Vellani in a story that sees the three heroes’ powers causing them to trade places with one another. While audiences have previously seen standalone female films in the MCU, including Captain Marvel and Black Widow, this will be the first time that a trio of female-presenting characters take the lead in a group film. Though she has some pressure from the fan base, there’s no doubt that DaCosta has poured her heart and soul into the production.

Check out Nemiroff’s full interview with DaCosta below and get your tickets for The Marvels now to catch it when it flies into theaters in the U.S. on November 10.

Get Tickets Here

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