Vivica A. Fox has stared down Uma Thurman with a sword. She has survived disaster movies, action thrillers, and decades of Hollywood gatekeeping. So when she says a first-time director reminded her of Quentin Tarantino, you probably want to pay attention.
Fox is the lead in Is God Is, the film adaptation of Aleshea Harris's acclaimed stage play - and yes, she is literally playing God. Because of course she is. Who else?
A playwright steps behind the camera
Aleshea Harris is making her directorial debut with the project, crossing over from the stage world where the play already built a serious reputation. That kind of leap - from writing words to commanding an entire film set - is the sort of thing that either produces magic or chaos. Based on Fox's enthusiasm when speaking to Mashable, it sounds like Harris landed firmly in the magic category.
Fox drew the Tarantino comparison when describing Harris's vision and precision on set. That is not a name people throw around lightly, especially not veterans who have actually worked in the industry long enough to know the difference between a director who talks a big game and one who actually delivers it.
Why this matters beyond the hype
The Tarantino comparison isn't just flattery - it's a signal. Tarantino built his reputation on taking pulpy, genre-adjacent material and treating it with complete artistic seriousness. Harris's play, a dark and revenge-fuelled story about twin sisters seeking out the father who wronged them and their dying mother, operates in similar territory. It is violent, mythological, and deeply human all at once.
Casting Fox as God - the dying mother figure who sets the story in motion - is either a stroke of genius or pure chaos energy. Given Fox's track record of fully committing to whatever she takes on, it's probably both.
The bigger picture
What's genuinely exciting here is the pipeline. A Black female playwright adapts her own celebrated work, steps into the director's chair for the first time, and pulls in a genre icon to anchor the whole thing. That is a story worth watching unfold on screen.
Fox has spent years being underestimated and overdelivering. Harris is walking into feature filmmaking with a script she knows better than anyone alive. If the Tarantino comparison holds even halfway, Is God Is could be one of those films people are still arguing about in film school a decade from now.
God, it seems, has excellent casting taste.
