Bello described an epic historical drama about an African warrior named Nanisca, adding, “Wouldn’t you want to see Viola Davis in a role like that?” The crowd “went wild,” Davis says now, and rose to their feet in raucous applause. “That was the genesis,” she says. Later, director Gina Prince-Bythewood, whose last movie was the industry-rippling Charlize Theron hit The Old Guard for Netflix, came on board and contributed to the script by Dana Stevens.
The Woman King, which will storm into theatres on September 16, tells the story of the Agojie (also known as Amazons), a real-life army of women warriors who defended the powerful West African kingdom of Dahomey in present-day Benin during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. (John Boyega plays King Ghezo.) Vanity Fair spoke to Davis and Prince-Bythewood about this unprecedented action-drama, which has been described as a Black female Braveheart.