Viola Davis on her military training for ‘The King Woman’: ‘I thought I was going to have a stroke’

Marvel fashioned the Dora Milaje, an army of female warriors who protected their kingdom of Wakanda, thanks to their ‘Black Panther’ films. But this group of soldiers has a royal origin, the Agojie or Dahomey Amazons. This was a female military regiment from the late Kingdom of Dahomey. And that story is the one told by “The King Woman,” the new action film from director Gina Prince-Bythewood (“The Old Guard”) and starring Academy Award winner Viola Davis.

The actress plays Nanisca, the general of the army. “These women were the unwanted ones, the ones not appreciated because they didn’t fit beauty”Davis explains in an interview for eCartelera. “They weren’t marriage material and so they became Agojie. They were given an identity, a purpose”Keep it up, “with that purpose they were created with the tools to live better, they are proud of what they do”. Therefore, the actress says the following: “Women can do difficult things. And we don’t have to be defined by anyone but us”.

This reflection joins Thuso Mbedu, who plays in “The King Woman” alongside Davis, giving life to the young Nawi, a new recruit for the Agojie. “We live in strange, difficult and crazy times where things seem to be going backwards”comment, “so as a woman I have learned not to wait for the solution to come from someone else”.

military training

In order to physically prepare to become Agojie, both actresses had to undergo very hard and severe training. “An hour and a half of weights, three and a half hours of martial arts, weapons, fists and everything in between… And the sprint, I couldn’t handle it, I thought I was going to have a stroke.”Davis reveals. “It was brutal”says Mbedu, “I had to motivate myself to say, ‘You won’t abandon the project because the action is so hard'”.

The premiere of ‘The King Woman’ in theaters November 25.