A trailer and a release date have been released for a movie that filmed in the Wilmington area in 2025, and which features several big-name actors.
“Driver’s Ed,” a comedy directed by Bobby Farrelly (“Dumb and Dumber,” “There’s Something About Mary”), will screen in some theaters and be available digitally via video-on-demand starting May 15, according to independent film distributor Vertical Entertainment.
“Driver’s Ed” filmed in the Wilmington area in March and April 2025 and premiered in September 2025 at the Toronto International Film Festival.
It stars Sam Nivola of buzzy HBO show “The White Lotus” as Jeremy, a high school senior who steals a drivers’ education vehicle he takes on a road trip to visit his girlfriend at college in Chapel Hill.
Molly Shannon (“Saturday Night Live,” “The White Lotus”) plays an uptight high school principal (“you cannot sext in the middle of class!”) and Kumail Nanjiani (“The Big Sick,” “Eternals”) plays a spaced-out driving instructor (“hands at 10 and 4”).
The trailer looks promising, and features lots of Wilmington-area locations.
The University of North Carolina Wilmington plays a high school campus, there’s a classroom scene shot at Hoggard High School, and a house on Orange Street stands in for a Chapel Hill frat house.
Also making appearances are longtime Rocky Point hot dog destination Paul’s Place, the Love Grove Bridge on One Tree Hill Way, and the Buen Dia Mexican restaurant on Castle Hayne Road.
Jeremy’s college girlfriend, Samantha, is played by Wilmington actress Lilah Pate (“The Runarounds,” “Monster Summer”), a graduate of Hoggard.
The car Jeremy steals contains 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.
According to the movie’s IMDb page, roles are also played by actress Alyssa Milano (“Charmed”), Wilmington actress Marley Aliah (“The Runarounds”) and Jesse Golliher, also of Wilmington-shot Amazon Prime Video series “The Runarounds.”
‘Driver’s Ed’ starring Sam Nivola shooting in downtown Wilmington
The feature film “Driver’s Ed” starring Sam Nivola was shooting in downtown Wilmington near Sixth and Orange streets on March 31, 2025.
The “Driver’s Ed” script is by Thomas Moffett (“An Actor Prepares”) and it’s being co-produced by Wilmington resident Jonas Pate and his wife, Jennifer Pate. Jonas Pate served as creator of “The Runarounds,” which recently announced that it was not renewed for a second season.
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.
In 2025, Pate told the StarNews his daughter Lilah is co-writing a script that could become the next movie in the Pates’ envisioned Wilmington-shot YA series.