Eva María Daniels, producer on the 2020 Mark Wahlberg-starrer Joe Bell and EP on the recent Sydney Sweeney vehicle Reality from HBO, has died. The news was announced by friend, filmmaker and fellow Icelander Börkur Sigthorsson. She was 43.
Daniels focused on developing original content with socially relevant themes, launching her Eva Daniels Productions in New York in 2010.
The most recent films she was involved with include Reality, which premiered at Berlinale in 2023; Joe Bell, which premiered at TIFF in 2020 and received a wide theatrical release by Roadside Attractions; and Hold the Dark in 2018, starring Jeffrey Wright.
In a Facebook tribute, Sigthorsson recalled how early on Daniels found a way to help Icelandic filmmakers by bundling their needs for film stock to procure a better price.
“This became her style,” he wrote. “She developed relationships with international filmmakers, offered opportunities for those whose talent she recognized but often lacked the means… and became an enabler and supporter of countless filmmakers who went on to become hugely successful.”
Reality is an adaptation of Broadway’s Is This A Room from playwright Tina Satter, who also directed the film.
