Victoria Mahoney is the first black female director to work on a ‘Star Wars’ movie.
The ‘Yelling to the Sky’ filmmaker has been hired by ‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ director and executive producer J.J. Abrams as second unit director on the upcoming movie, meaning she will take charge of supplementary footage such as establishing shots, filming stunts, inserts, and cutaways.
‘A Wrinkle in Time’ filmmaker Ava DuVernay revealed the news on her Twitter account.
She shared a picture of Victoria and J.J. and posted: "Happy to share this historic news.
"A black woman directing stories in a galaxy far, far away. First unit director #JJAbrams. Second unit director @VictoriaMahoney. #StarWarsE9 #StarWars.(sic)"
Victoria – who is best known for her work on TV including episodes of ‘Seven Seconds’, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and Ava’s own ‘Queen Sugar’ – then retweeted the post and thanked her friend for recommending her for the job, as well as dedicating her new position to dreamers.
She posted: "Catt’s outta the bag. Thank you @ava for putting my name in the #StarWars #LucasFilm hat.
"Thank you #JJAbrams for inviting me on your ferocious ride. *This one’s for the outliers, dreaming big–in small corners of the Earth. (sic)"
The filmmaker later tweeted out a message of thanks for the kind words of congratulations she’d received after the news broke.
She posted: "We hoped today’s news was appropriately impactful but we couldn’t possibly have prepared for the outpouring of joyous support.
Storytellers out there, stuck deciding btwn putting food in your belly or gas in the car for tmrw’s job interview, this 1s 4u. Xx (sic)"
‘Star Wars: Episode XI’ is due for release in December 2019.
Victoria Mahoney lands historic Star Wars job
