This interview with the cast of “The Woman King” was first published on The Guild & Critics Awards / Documentary Editinge from TheWrap Awards Magazine.
By any reasonable calculation, “The Woman King” was a risky movie to make. Set in 19th century Africa, starring a large cast of actresses, mainly black women, many of them not very well known, it faced big questions about whether the film would find its audience.
Incredibly, it did. Created by a team that included director Gina Prince-Bythewood and producers Viola Davis, Julius Tennon, Mario Bello and Cathy Schulman, Sony’s TriStar Pictures release has grossed more than $90 million at the worldwide box office since its release in September. Critics have welcomed the film, too (as have audiences: it has a 99% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes), with Justin Chang of the LA Times identifying the film’s treble of taking “an outdated template for offer a flood of new and exciting images.”
“The Woman King” is based on the true story of the kingdom of Dahomey (located in present-day Benin), where a cadre of warrior women, the Agojie, protected the powerful state and its king. The film stars Davis as General Nanisca; thuso Mbedu as the neophyte warrior Nawi; Lashana Lynch as the warrior Izogie; Sheila Atim as Threat; and John Boyega as King Ghezo. TheWrap Editor-in-Chief Sharon Waxman spoke to this extraordinary cast at the Toronto Film Festival.
This movie seems to be something very different from anything I’ve ever seen produced in Hollywood before: a movie about an African story of self-empowerment with an African cast, shot in Africa, directed by women, a female director, a lead producer. Viola, you spent many years bringing this film to life. Can you tell us how you started and why?
VIOLA DAVIS It started with Maria Bello. She made many trips to Africa. She does a lot of philanthropic work, but she thought of this story. She presented me with an award at the Skirball Center. And when she presented me with the award, she presented the script to the audience. That was her presentation of me. And she finished with: “Wouldn’t you like to see Viola as the Woman King, Nanisca?” And everyone applauded. That’s where she started.
And from there it was the fight. I call that part of the trip “the fight”. I wish people could be a fly on the wall so they can understand the process of making a movie: walk out of rooms a lot, just swear, just put your hands up and go, “Oh my gosh, can you believe that? ” happened? Can you believe we have to fight for this? Fighting for everything. Fighting for the actors, fighting for the director, fighting for the integrity of the project. Fighting not to change and change the script or soften it to fit other scripts that had been done before it didn’t… I’ll just say it wasn’t like Black.
By which you mean it had more white characters, or it had more…
davis Well, it’s a longer conversation. Fighting over, I don’t know, hairstyles. Struggling to make sure all the actors were dark skinned. The Agojie were dark-skinned women. Fighting for little things like that. Fight for an adequate budget because without the budget certain things cannot be done. Fighting over directors was a big thing because the studio approves of directors like Christopher Nolans, David Finchers, Steven Spielbergs. They are busy doing other things. They are not going to direct “The Woman King”. And then fight for other female directors who are names, (but) are also busy doing other things. And fighting for the directors who are names but who are too afraid of them. People who didn’t even read the script, scared to tell a story of empowering black women.
Scared why?
davis (That) would be a better question for them. Because we are a mystery, I think, to many people. And then finally getting it done, finally getting my feet on South African soil, it was really close to a miracle. (laughs)
So, what was it like to be a part of this project?
THUSU MBEDU It was absolutely amazing on every level. He got to train with Viola pretty early in the process. We are doing everything ourselves. It was hard, extremely hard. But beautiful, you know, it broke us the way she needed it, but it also made us stronger.
John, you can stand there and look very beautiful in your robe.
JUAN BOYEGA No fighting at all.
What was it like to be some kind of singular man surrounded by this army of women?
BOYEGA Well it was like home. I have two older sisters. Mom’s whole family is mostly women. So there was an element of that. But the difference with this was that there was something inspiring to see. We weren’t just in an environment where you compare, as a man or a woman, they were working as hard as anyone. They transformed their bodies.
You said at the premiere that you felt you had reached some kind of crisis in your own life as an actor. Can you talk about that?
BOYEGA I wouldn’t call it a crisis. If you continually build yourself up and continually look in the mirror, it’s really just a life process where you should have a moment to sit down and say, “Okay, what am I doing? In which direction am I going now? And in that consideration and confusion, Gina’s letter arrived and it had the vibe of a call to action. It wasn’t necessarily a career change. It was more about “Come and support, come and stay on set with other artists.” And for me, it was like a reintroduction of why I fell in love with acting.
Were you surprised that a studio would back a movie like this with this theme and this cast?
BOYEGA Up to a point, but that no longer moves me. So my question is, have you fully supported those in charge? Have you made sure that you have given them the best opportunity and the best resources to do so? Are you going to market it? Are you going to push it? These are questions we’ve continually asked ourselves throughout the entire process leading up to the digital release.
Lashana and Sheila, how was this experience for you?
LASHANA LINCHA Every time we’re asked that question, I take a deep breath because there’s so much to say. There’s so much ground that we were able to cover as actresses, as people, as black women. Even before I was chosen, I was very happy that the industry was preparing for this change. This is quite a leap for someone who looks like me to be happy to have a studio backing them and putting together the most powerful cast that can be their most dedicated selves through a director who really cares about them, cares about your well being. -To be in the approach of narratives as deep as that of black women. I felt that I could heal a little of myself, heal from my ancestors onwards. It was a special spiritual experience for me.
Sheila?
SHEILA ATIM I always try to choose roles in projects where I feel there is something new about them, whether it’s the project itself or something new to me personally, something I haven’t tackled before. Just listening to Lashana speak, I realize that there were so many elements of this project that were new to me. Working with so many black women at the same time, I’ve never had the chance to do that. Both in front of and behind the camera, doing our own dance, which was definitely something I hadn’t done on screen yet. The level of ambition that the project had to have, all of that in a project meant that I had to be a part of it.
But I think he really hit me while I was there and he continues to hit me afterwards. Having seen the movie now a couple of times, it’s the gift that keeps on giving. But with that comes big challenges because, as Viola mentioned before, we’re entering territory that can make people nervous. The industry is very risk averse. So to be able to go through all of that, come out on the other side and say, “We did it. We executed it,” is something I am very proud of.
Read more from the Guild & Critics / Documentary Awards edition here.
