A feature film shot in Wilmington will soon debut on an international stage — or, at least on an international screen.
“Driver’s Ed,” a comedy directed by Bobby Farrelly (“Dumb and Dumber,” “There’s Something About Mary”) that filmed in the Wilmington area in March and April, will premiere Sept. 11 at the Toronto International Film Festival, or TIFF, in Canada.
According to the festival’s website, “Bobby Farrelly’s charming ‘Driver’s Ed’follows a high school senior (Sam Nivola from ‘The White Lotus’) who hits the road to save his relationship with his college-bound girlfriend, with his principal (Molly Shannon) and driving instructor (Kumail Nanjiani) in hot pursuit.”
Nivola’s character is named Jeremy, and Jeremy’s college girlfriend, Samantha, is played by Wilmington actress Lilah Pate (“The Summer I Turned Pretty,” “Monster Summer”), a graduate of Hoggard High School.
From left, Mohana Krishan, Sam Nivola, Aidan Laprete and Sophie Telegadis in feature film “Driver’s Ed,” which shot in Wilmington in early 2025.
According to TIFF, the movie has Samantha attending college in Chapel Hill, and when Jeremy begins to “doubt where they stand, (he) steals the driver’s ed car from his school and hits the road.”
The car he steals happens to contain a drug dealer played by Aidan Laprete, the school valedictorian played by Mohana Krishan and a loner played by Sophie Telegadis, all of whom accompany Jeremy on the road trip.
Other than Niovla, who drew acclaim for his turn in the edgy “White Lotus” earlier this year, the cast’s best known actors are Shannon (“Saturday Night Live,” “The White Lotus”), who plays the high school principal, and Nanjiani (“The Big Sick,” “Eternals”), who plays the driving instructor.
With a script by Thomas Moffett (“An Actor Prepares”), TIFF describes “Driver’s Ed” as “a charming and lively romantic comedy about what happens to young love when it runs smack into different realities, new opportunities, and the fact that absence does not necessarily make the heart grow fonder.”
Along with David Stone, “Driver’s Ed” is being co-produced by Wilmington resident Jonas Pate and his wife, Jennifer Pate, who are also co-producers of Wilmington-shot Prime Video series “The Runarounds.”
Jonas Pate, best-known as a co-creator of Netflix hit “Outer Banks,” is also the creator of “The Runarounds,” which is about a young rock band trying to make it big. It premieres Sept. 1 on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service.
Filmington: Music-heavy Amazon TV series ‘The Runarounds’ is a Wilmington show through and through
In 2024, Jonas Pate likened “Driver’s Ed” to “‘The Breakfast Club’ in a car,” with kids from different walks of life thrown together, and said it’s the first of what could be a series of movies aimed young-adult audiences to be filmed in Wilmington, made from other scripts the couple has commissioned.
During a recent interview, Pate said his daughter Lilah is co-writing a script that could become the next movie in the Pates’ envisioned Wilmington-shot YA series.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: ‘Driver’s Ed’ movie to premiere at Toronto International Film Festival
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