From her debut romantic comedy classic Love and Basketball to her latest action hit The Old Guard, Gina Prince-Bythewood is a rich character introspection in the midst of external chaos. known for films depicting That touch is evident again this fall, even as she broadens her cinematic playing field with fact-based battle epics.queen“
This period drama follows the army of the ferocious female warrior Agojie as she defends the West African kingdom of Dahomey from domestic and foreign slave traders. Led by Viola Davis as General Naniska, the women live in a corner of King Gezo’s (John Boyega) palace and live in a male-free enclave to hone their combat skills. In this environment, a young girl Nawi (newcomer Suso her Mbedu), who was unexpectedly abandoned in the palace, begins training alongside an experienced soldier played by Lashana Lynch and Sheila Atim.
Davis brought this concept to Prince Bythewood. “When we first met her, she was crying in her room,” Davis said of Prince-Bythewood. “When a director has that level of passion and vulnerability for a piece, they treat it like their own child. I understood that this was Gina’s best work in the room.”
In a video interview, Prince-Bythewood explained how he approached what would become his biggest film to date. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.
Please tell us about the difference in scale compared to your previous works.
When I met Viola and Cassie [Schulman, a producer] To get the job, I told them, all my work up to this point is telling this story the right way, giving it the grand scale it deserves, doing the action the right way, and doing these things. Given everything I’ve learned, I think it deserves to introduce women not only in “The Old Guard” with its action, but also in its storytelling. do you want? Do they feel real to you? All really good movies start here.
How did you obtain this work?
About five years ago, I read the news that Viola Davis was making a movie about female warriors and thought, “Why didn’t they come to me?” [Laughs] But they did. They came to me as writers and directors, but they had to write scripts. I think I was onsilver & black” [a superhero project that was ultimately canceled]So, I couldn’t accept the writing, but I said, “Please come again when the script is ready.” It’s often said, but I really thought so.
And they got back to me with the script [credited to Dana Stevens from a story by Stevens and Maria Bello]”Black Panther” came out at that point and I remember reading that Dora Mirage in “Black Panther” was based on a real-life warrior woman. People used to call them Black Girl Amazons, but their real name was Agozier. That was when I first heard of them. As soon as he read the script, he knew on page 5 that he had to do this movie. It was just excitement, excitement, excitement, as the stories were anchored in truth, and certain wars at certain times led to a greater war against the settlers. We were thrilled to see an incredible culture, and us, on screen in a way that we hadn’t been able to see ourselves.
I’m glad you mentioned Dora Mirage before I did. how do you handle that?
I loved “Black Panther”. was fun. For me, ‘The Woman King’ is where we started and ‘Black Panther’ is where we can go, so past and future – I think it’s a beautiful connection. But I think it’s great that people can now learn that we really were these women, that we have this innate warrior within us.
Based on “The Secret Life of the Bees” and “Love and Basketball,” I especially like the introspective character moments with the women. Have you ever achieved such a moment in
It feels like the intimate moments were just as important as the big set pieces. So I love taking the time to help the audience understand who people are, where they come from, and their relationship to other people. Yes, and the humanity of these women was very important.I wanted to take the time to establish that, so when you see Viola fighting in the Battle of Oyo, you care You have to invest that time. I love doing action, but she loves playing two people in a scene. [Lynch’s character] Izogi-gumi [Nawi’s] “You’re more powerful than you think,” I tell her — I quit that scene the same way I do a big fight scene.
Do you think the actions surrounding such interior scenes threaten to overwhelm them?
Great action expands who the characters are. Many stories can be told in action scenes. But you have to know who Izogy is and how she fights from the start. It was fun to create: What is your fighting style? What does it say about your character Do you? It’s just fun to be able to do that with the actors.
Where did you shoot and what were the challenges you faced on location?
We shot in South Africa and mostly in Cape Town. We built a whole palace there. But his first two weeks of shooting were in KwaZulu-Natal, where we shot a lot of deep jungle. It was incredible to be in that environment. It’s also her hometown in Suso, so the fact that she shot her first film in the place where she was born and raised was a surprise to her.
Omicron hit us when we got back to Cape Town. It was really hard because we had to close for a few weeks. Most terrifyingly, it took him three weeks for us to shoot. I wasn’t sure we would be back. Was Omicron going to keep doing this, or was it going to stagnate?
Were there any concerns that the film would have to be scrapped entirely, or simply postponed?
We thought we should scrap it.
Sticking with South Africa, let’s talk about Suso. You said this is her first film. What did she bring to the movie you had to have?
she auditioned. The moment I saw her face on Zoom, I was curious even before I opened her mouth! And since she opened her mouth, I was even more concerned about her. Not only does she have her innate vulnerability, but she is also her generational talent. she is very good
She can be equal to Viola Davis! who can do that? she did it The Suso is very smart by nature and pays close attention to everything. Details are very important to her. She is so passionate and so good. She loved watching her on the scene.
Let’s talk about the fight scenes. The actors did some of their own fighting and stunts in the combat-heavy film.
To each one of them, including Viola, I had to see [them] eyes and [say], “You’re going to do your own fights and stunts. But saying yes is one thing to actually doing it, and I’m talking months of work. The beauty of it is that the training type is part of the rehearsal process. It helps build characters and bond. But they now take so much pride when they can see what they’ve done.
It amazes me that some people say that women are not warriors and they are not tough. These women do a lot so they can do what they did on set. In an action movie, you should never get hurt, but you can at some point.These women didn’t stop getting hurt. I’m an athlete, so I love that, and it was really beautiful to see that from them.
Another thing that I think will be appreciated soon, and a fact that keeps popping into my head, is that little girls are going to see all these natural hairstyles.
Sheila wishes her 12-year-old self had this movie. And yeah, that’s what we’re most excited about: How could this change the way we see ourselves, especially little girls? Can you see it objectively? Can you accept it yourself? I really want that for this movie.