Malia Obama is leaving her mark in the film industry and she has director Donald Glover helping her along the journey.
The former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama‘s eldest child has been working with Donald on some of his productions, and now he’s allowing her to lead a film of her own.
In an article with GQ, “Atlanta” creator revealed that his newly-created production company, Gilga, is developing a short film with Malia. GQ stated that Malia is creating the short film, but it hasn’t been confirmed that she is directing it.
Malia, 24, already has some writing credits under her belt. She was a part of Donald’s writing room for his new series “Swarm,” which premiered on Amazon Prime on March 17. She worked on the show’s fifth episode, “Girl Bye,” alongside series co-creator Janine Nabers.
“Some of her pitches were wild as hell, and they were just so good and so funny,” Janine told Entertainment Tonight in an interview published March 17. “She’s an incredible writer. She brought a lot to the table … She’s really, really dedicated to her craft.”
In the article, Donald reflected on how he is mentoring Malia in the entertainment world. “The first thing we did was talk about the fact that she will only get to do this once,” he said. “You’re Obama’s daughter. So if you make a bad film, it will follow you around.”
Fam Udeorji, Donal’s longtime collaborator and his creative partner at Gilga, added, “Understanding somebody like Malia’s cachet means something. But we really wanted to make sure she could make what she wanted—even if it was a slow process…It’s more about diversity of thought than just, like, diversity for optics. You know what I mean?”
Details about Malia’s short film remains under wraps.
Donald told Vanity Fair, “She’s just, like, an amazingly talented person. She’s really focused, and she’s working really hard.”
His brother and frequent collaborator Stephen, who is also working on the upcoming series, also appreciated Malia’s writing skills. “I feel like she’s just somebody who’s gonna have really good things coming soon. Her writing style is great.”
He added, “Donald always says perspective is important, and people with different perspectives are important for a writers’ room. And for sure, [Malia] definitely has a unique perspective on everything. So we wanted to hear her stories and have her work with us. Listening to her stories and having her involved really gave us a lot of good ideas.”
Stephen made it clear that no one gave Malia special treatment just because she is the former President’s daughter. “Well, you know, we just hurt her feelings. We can’t be easy on her just because she’s the [former] President’s daughter. Nah, she’s very down to earth, and cool. So, it’s not a problem at all,’ he added. ‘She has a lot of good ideas. She’s great. She’s just a regular person like everybody else.”
In 2012, Michelle Obama told People that Malia had a deep interest in filmmaking.
After graduating from Sidwell Friends School, Malia visited three schools: Yale, Brown, and the Univerisity of Pennsylvania. She then decided to take a “gap year” to travel to South America and Indonesia. Upon returning from her trips, she entered Harvard University as a freshman in 2017.
According to Harvard’s official website, Malia majored in Visual and Environmental Studies in her undergraduate, which later helped her develop an even deeper interest in filmmaking.
Malia’s new job comes after she graduated from Harvard University last year. She had previously been an intern on Lena Dunham’s HBO series Girls in 2015 and worked at the Weinstein Company in 2017, before Harvey Weinstein’s arrest.
Congratulations, Malia and good luck in your new career. Donald’s full interview with GQ can be read on their website.
