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To say that multiple nominee and one-time Oscar winner Viola Davis is high in demand would be a gross understatement. With numerous accolades for television, theater, and film achievements, Davis is set to stun once again in her latest project The Woman King.
Striking posters and screenshots released earlier this year may not have really prepared expected audiences for what’s to come. Certainly, there were inklings but no true action visuals … until now. In the new trailer for The Woman King, Davis plays Nanisca, an African commander who led the Agojie, a real-life army of an elite and deadly all-female group of warriors. As shots of intruding white colonizers are seen entering the West African kingdom of Dahomey, a foreboding voiceover warns:
“An evil is coming that threatens our kingdom, our freedom. But we have a weapon they are not prepared for.”
Nanisca tries to convince King Ghezo (John Boyega) that the Europeans will stop at nothing to conquer Africa, but he is reluctant to create a war. A steely-eyed Nanisca warns him, “Some things are worth fighting for.”
Viola Davis Reigns in The Woman King
In an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair, the 56-year-old shared her thoughts and process of getting physically fit for the role.
“I’ve never had a role like this before. It’s transformative. We started intensely a few months before shooting – four hours a day, five days a week. Weight training, sprinting, martial arts and weaponry training for the machete.”
In the film, Nanisca prepares her fighters for combat, despite the king’s doubts. Her army includes her right-hand woman played by Lashana Lynch and a new recruit named Nawi (Thuso Mbedu) whom Nanisca counsels, “To be a warrior, you must kill your tears.”
Based on the true story of the African Kingdom from the 18th century, the Agojie women were commonly referred to as the Dahomey Amazons, a name given to them by the French while fighting in the kingdom of Dahomey, an empire in West Africa that existed from 1625 to 1894. Its remnants lie in modern-day Benin. Girls as young as 8 years old were also recruited and supplied with weapons. Considered to have been the most feared women to walk the earth, the French army lost several battles to the Dahomey Amazons.
The Woman King will premiere exclusively in theaters on September 16, 2022.
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