Tonya Mosley

Do you remember when the seed was planted in your mind that you could be a filmmaker?

And then the choice that I am going to be a filmmaker, even aside from just all of those great films that you watched...

You worked as a PA, not just for Scorsese, but for Steve McQueen, Steven Soderbergh.

These are directors with completely different styles.

Yeah.

Take me back to those sets.

What were you noticing?

What were you absorbing?

Is there a through line that you saw with all of them, even though they're all different?

You know, I was thinking all of those guys, something that's common for all of them that they all share is they are

uncompromising.

Like they will fight with the studios to protect their vision.

And I'm so curious about what this looks like for you and what types of considerations have you had to make or you just decided I'm going to bypass that and stand in my power?

If you're just joining us, my guest is filmmaker Nia DaCosta.

We're talking about her new film Hedda, a provocative reimagining of Henrik Ibsen's classic play Hedda Gabler.

We'll continue our conversation after a short break.

This is Fresh Air.

You went to public school in Harlem for a short period of time, right?

I did, yeah.

And then you made the switch to private school, then to boarding school.