CinemaBlend sat down with the cast of “The Woman King” including Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, John Boyega, and Director Gina Prince-Bythewood. They discuss how Viola Davis acted as a mentor on- and off-screen, training for their epic fight sequences, how the pandemic affected filming, and much more!
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00:00Well with me, you know, I'm over 50 so I said make this ground smooth so I don't trip over these rocks
00:05And then when you know the when the bullet came at me, I was the first time I mean, I just ducked. I'm not gonna lie
00:23Miss Davis, there's a very powerful scene where an Anuska is pointing out the scars that she has and
00:30How they're almost an emotional reminder of the journey she took to get to that point
00:34I'm just curious if you gave stories to
00:36To the presence of those scars and what they might have meant to her getting up to that point
00:40I think the scars were a badge of honor
00:44Because it showed that she lived a life and she survived
00:49You know, um, and I think that a lot of people feel like you're not your scars, I believe that you are your scars
00:56I do
00:59And
01:01And not just the scars on her body the scars that were even inside her from being a rape survivor
01:10And
01:12That's one of the things that I wanted to pass on to now we in that moment is that your scars are your pride
01:20They're your badge. They're your sword you use them you use them as warrior fuel
01:27You know, and I think that's a great message for women today because I think sometimes we want it so easy
01:34We don't want the scars
01:37But I think that by the time, you know, I say God
01:41You know takes me from this earth. I want a lot of battle scars
01:45That means that I fought and I fought to win and I was brave enough to fight and you know
01:50I think what now we in that moment
01:53She she thinks the scars are cool
01:56But doesn't fully comprehend the pain or what it means to have actual scars
02:01Mm-hmm, and that's woman today or people today where it's like, yeah, I am this I've achieved this
02:07But they don't actually fully comprehend what it takes to be that which they aspire to be
02:12Exactly and that you have to kind of go through it to be that yes to be an Iniska
02:18Absolutely battles to be fought I get scared to death
02:22That we were not gonna be able to come back
02:25Omicron hit us three weeks into shooting and
02:28Hit us hard and I just didn't know did we shoot enough where the studio would say?
02:34Well, we we have to come back or was it not enough where they said, let's just cut our losses
02:38I did not know with the actors come back, you know, there was so much unknown at that moment, but for us
02:46South Africa handled everything beautifully everyone wore masks
02:50Everybody stayed sanitized and it dissipated very quickly
02:54So that was that was huge and the second when you're shooting a film like this with the scope you need a lot of background
03:02With the stunts you have people fighting face to face
03:06How could we still do that and do that safely keep our actors safe? Keep the background safe
03:10And so we had to cut down the numbers significantly
03:13That was tough to have to switch my mindset of where the camera can go to hide the fact that
03:19Instead of having 300. I've got 150
03:23And and just having tricks of okay
03:26Let's bubble all the actors in the hotel that are gonna be face-to-face with the actors
03:29But we had to keep everyone safe because one of the film's strongest themes is that of mentorship and of training the next level
03:37the next generation in that generation kind of living up to the
03:40Expectations of their teachers and I'm just curious if that happened to be the vibe on set when working with someone like Viola whether you consider
03:46her a mentor and wanted to almost
03:48act to to make her proud
03:52Viola is absolutely a mentor even when she doesn't realize she's being one and she doesn't you know
03:58Position herself as that as well. She's not somebody who forces that upon you or imposes this sense of leadership
04:04She just is
04:06And actually much of her leadership comes through her compassion and her gentle side and her
04:14maternal side, you know somebody who's always encouraging us to be ourselves to be authentic to listen to ourselves to
04:23Engage with our vulnerability as well, which isn't an easy thing to do as a black person as a black woman as an actor as well
04:29I think there's lots that's expected of us in terms of you know
04:34The role that we should fulfill and the way that we should the the image that we should project
04:39Outwards of how we're feeling how we are and Viola was, you know instrumental in in
04:46Supporting us through that and she's also really funny
04:48And that's but that's massive when you're looking at somebody who you've looked up to and you're just like I just hope they're really nice
04:54And then she's jokes
04:56It's just easy man. So yeah, love Viola
04:59It's literally a case of I'm learning from her just from her existing
05:05Just because of who she is as a person. I learned from Sheila. I learned from Lashana
05:09I learned from every single person who was on set because they all had something to give from Polly the DOP, you know
05:16Gina the director
05:18Viola has been with me since you know pre-production training
05:24Where we were fighting
05:27struggling
05:28sweating
05:30crying together
05:32Muscles aching and it was just her humanity that I felt more
05:38Most drawn to and that made me feel safe enough to be able to take the risks that I did with now
05:45He in the moment
05:47Now we is an incredible character. Who can I find to embody her?
05:52Underground hadn't come out yet. I just knew that Barry who I trust implicitly had cast this young woman to so and
05:58She auditioned it was over zoom and the moment her face popped up on my screen. I just cared about her
06:06And I kind of like is this is this her and then she started to read
06:11Tuso is an absolute generational talent
06:14She is that good and knowing I needed someone who could go toe-to-toe with Viola Davis. I believed her immediately
06:22Then I needed her to meet with Viola and that
06:27Conversation between those two was magical and Viola after said I don't even know her but I feel maternal towards her
06:34and then the last step though was to so had never done anything athletic in her life and
06:40I needed to I needed her to meet with Danny Hernandez our stunt and fight coordinator
06:45So we put her through some paces for about an hour
06:48It was supposed to be an hour and it ended up being two hours because she didn't want to stop and when we saw that
06:55That mentality of wanting to be great wanting to put in the work
06:58I said I can trust her
07:00She had enough that we could build on and to so from the moment
07:03She got cast in April started training in May all the way through the following March
07:10Six days a week two times a day. It was incredible her work ethic and and she's incredible in the movie
07:15I'll Lashana the fight choreography obviously is insane
07:18Um, there's a moment in the middle of the battle where Viola blocks a bullet with her sword and then you hand her another one
07:33That's funny that moment was a blur for me because firstly me and Viola Davis are just casually walking through a battle and
07:40She gets disarmed and I'm like don't worry about I got here. I got you. That's insane to even think about
07:45I mean like Sheila was saying like you you watch people that you admire for so long and you're like gosh
07:51I really hope I get the opportunity to work with them and then you have these
07:54Really special moments that you share with them on screen that you could never conjure up on your own
07:59and I'm so glad that Gina was able to Gina and our stunt coordinator Danny Hernandez were able to
08:06Were able to carve out these moments for these characters that showed their character within this the choreography
08:12That was really important and even the fact that she's doing it the fact that she is blocking a bullet with her machete is insane
08:18And how the Zoghi is able to think so quickly and and protect her general in the way that she does and then go off
08:24And have their own individual fights and then come back
08:27And then
08:38Among all the chaos like you mentioned there's so much going on all the time we you know
08:45Actors editors make it look very easy when we're able to make moments come to come by really fast
08:51but that was took a lot of
08:54Studying actually we we rehearsed it and then we got on set and had to change a lot of things
09:00And there was a lot of switching out and how's the angle gonna work? And how do I even feel?
09:07Doing that that quickly. I've never put a machete up straight like that and giving it to someone
09:11That's not a move that Zoghi does anywhere else
09:13So I feel um, yeah, I feel really honored to be have been able to share that moment with her
09:18Well with me, you know, I'm over 50 so I said make this ground smooth so I don't trip over these rocks
09:24And then when you know the when the bullet came at me, I was the first time. I mean I just ducked
09:30I'm not gonna lie
09:31I think we had so many takes where I just ducked and I just let that sword right on that feel as if I need
09:37a break I
09:39Love the battle scene. I really I love taking down the dudes. I I'm not gonna lie
09:45Yeah, I love taking down the dudes special shout-out to Danny Hernandez
09:49Yes, Janelle
09:51Yeah, brilliant mind
09:54Beautiful choreographer, you always made us feel safe
09:57We look cool. We look badass. We look like we're taking risks, but we're always safe. Yes
10:03It's just the thing with me
10:04I like to I know as me as a moviegoer when I sit down in that seat and the lights go down. I
10:10Just want to be enveloped and I just want to start
10:13You know, and I want people to forget that you're watching a movie and that I hope that you're just enveloped and feel like you're
10:20watching real life and
10:21For me starting with credits in the song and all that I feel kind of takes you out of that for a moment like oh
10:26I'm watching a movie. I just want you to go John. I'm out of time, but I love you also
10:43You