Viola Davis on the Long Journey of ‘The Woman King': ‘To Finally Get It Made…Was Close to a Miracle’

thewrap.com:

glowing reception. With Viola Davis starring as General Nanisca, commander of the Agoije, an all-woman army that defends the Kingdom of Dahomey, the film depicts an ongoing war with the Oyo Empire and the leadership of Dahomey’s newest ruler, King Ghezo (John Boyega).

Davis and Boyega, alongside cast mates Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch and Sheila Atim, sat down at TheWrap and Shutterstock’s Interview and Portrait Studio at the Toronto Film Festival for a conversation moderated by TheWrap’s editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman.The journey to “The Woman King” began back in 2015, when actress Maria Bello — who serves as a producer on the film — was presenting an award to Davis and, in the process, pitched her on the story. “It was her introduction of me [to the audience] and she ended it with, ‘Wouldn’t you want to see Viola as “The Woman King”?'” Davis said. “And everybody just cheered.

That’s where it started. And then from there, it was the fight [to get the film made].”She added, “I wish people could be a fly on the wall so they can understand the process of getting a film made.

It’s a lot of walking out of rooms just cussing, just putting my hands up going, ‘Oh my God, can you believe that happened? Can you believe we have to fight for this?’ And fighting for everything.