The Female King: The Spectacular Physical Transformation of Viola Davis and Her Magnificent Warriors

Agozhie, true warriors

A female king Depicts the Agojié, an army of women who defended the Kingdom of Dahomey from the late 17th to the late 19th century. They were one of the first all-female armies in history and one of the most fearsome and capable battalions in the world.

Dahomey was one of the richest kingdoms in the world at that time. It corresponds to today’s Benin. It was founded around 1600, but the war it fought with France in 1894 led to its decline, then its colonization. The film takes place in 1823.

Dahomey’s culture, which valued women, was extremely progressive for its time. Women had access to all levels of power: army generals, financial advisors, religious leaders. The king even bestowed the title of kpojito (“female king”) on the woman who reigned beside him.

Never seen movie history

The history of Agojié is almost unknown to the general public. The project was born thanks to producer Maria Bello (especially known to the public as an actress), who discovered the existence of Agojie warriors during a trip to West Africa. She sent a book written in French about these women to producer Cathy Shulman. “For about seven months I looked at this book and tried to catch the only French word I understood. I was amazed to discover that this was an episode in history I had never heard of.”

Nicole Brown, president of TriStar, immediately saw the film’s potential: “I discovered a true story, fascinating and extraordinary, that I had never heard of and that oscillates between spectacular action scenes and emotion. Cinema exists to tell such stories! »

An unusual presentation

Two producers Maria Bello and Cathy Shulman was presented Viola Davis The “Woman King” project in a questionable context: at the 2015 Women in History Awards ceremony, where Bello presented the actress with an award.

He recalls: “When Maria got up on the podium to present me with the award, she said to me, ‘I’m going to make you a film that I’m sure you’ll all want to see starring Viola Davis.’ He told the story of Agozh and Dahomey and everyone started clapping! That’s how I discovered that there was real dramatic material there.”

Preparation and stunts

In order to best portray the fearsome warriors that were Agojie, the cast underwent specific training under the supervision of lead stuntman and fight coordinator Daniel Hernandez and nutritionist and trainer for the main cast, Gabriela McClain. Hernandez wanted the actors to do 90% of the fight scenes. They trained twice a day, six days a week.

“At first it was all about lifting heavy weights with interval training with very little rest – until one muscle type fatigued before moving on to another,” explains Gabriela McLain. Both martial arts and bodybuilding are intensively introduced. Nutrition also played a big role. They followed a strict menu and ate more than usual: five times a day with proteins and few carbohydrates.

Their male counterparts didn’t shy away from training: Jimmy Odukoya learned martial arts and machete handling, Jordan Bolger and Hero Fines Tiffin learned to use period muskets.

The meaning of red color

Red is the main color of Dahomey: the earth is red and the walls are made of bricks. Production designer Akin McKenzie explains: “The red earth is important: it’s an immediate visual and sensory element when you’re in the city of Abomey. It was important for us to feel this in our field. We feel a strong touch in fitting in with this people and their world. »

This red earth, specific to Benin and constituting the architecture and roads, is not found in South Africa. Fortunately, the production located a mine near Cape Town that produced the exact same color earth for filming. It was easy for the team to use because it reacted to moisture by turning into clay. So this real red earth was mixed with other elements to make it easier to photograph.