The Rise of Skywalker’s Victoria Mahoney in talks to direct Kill Them All

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Victoria Mahoney served as the second unit director of J.J. Abrams' STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, and THR has now reported that Mahoney is in negotiations to make her big-studio feature directorial debut with KILL THEM ALL, an adaptation of Kyle Starks' graphic-novel of the same name.

KILL THEM ALL is a love-letter to 90s action movies which follows a betrayed murderess who wants revenge and a hard-drinking former cop who wants to take down a crime lord. To get what they want, they're going to have to fight their way through a 15-story Miami high-rise full of assassins, murderers, Luchadore gang-bosses, ex-boyfriends, accountants, and office workers. Sounds good to me. Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL) will be producing KILL THEM ALL, which has been scripted by James Coyne. In an essay for THR, Victoria Mahoney spoke of becoming the first woman and the first person of colour to serve as second unit director in the STAR WARS franchise, but even more than that, the awe of getting to be a part of the iconic series.

Five months later, J.J. is leading us, his key crew, through soundstages at Pinewood in London. My entire being is knocked back by the magnitude, labor and precision of a ship being erected from scratch. My jaw hits the floor, and I hear myself say, "Holy shit!" I start telling myself, "Pull it together. Don't be an amateur. Keep your geekdom close to the chest. Hide your awe, Mahoney." But then I see J.J. in my periphery, smiling as big and full as me. I'm delighted — and relieved not to have to hide that I've been dreaming of this moment and the higher stakes of day-to-day directing on a massive franchise.

Although this will be Victoria Mahoney's first big-studio project, it's far from the first time she's sat in the director's chair; Mahoney has helmed episodes of Queen Sugar, Grey's Anatomy, American Crime, Power, I Am the Night, as well as an episode of HBO's upcoming Lovecraft Country. Mahoney also made her feature directorial debut with YELLING TO THE SKY in 2011, a semi-autobiographical drama which starred Zoë Kravitz, Tim Blake Nelson, Jason Clarke, Sonequa Martin-Green, and Gabourey Sidibe.