The Woman King: the impressive physical transformation of Viola Davis and her formidable warriors

The Agojié, true warriors

The Woman King depicts the Agojié, an army of women who defended the kingdom of Dahomey from the end of the 17th to the end of the 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, at the time, one of the richest kingdoms in the world. It corresponds to present-day Benin. It was founded around 1600, but the war which opposed it to France in 1894 caused its fall, then its colonization. The film is set in 1823.

The Dahomey culture, which valued women, was extremely progressive for its time. Women had access to all levels of power: general of the army, financial advisors, religious leaders. The king even granted the title of Kpojito (“woman king”) to a woman who reigned at his side.

A never-before-seen film story

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The history of the Agojié is almost unknown to the general public. The project was born thanks to the producer Maria Bello (especially known to the public as an actress) who had discovered the existence of the Agojié warriors while traveling through West Africa. She sent a book about these women, written in French, to producer Cathy Schulman. “I skimmed through this book for about seven months, trying to cling to the only French words I understood. I was amazed to find that this was an episode in history that I had never heard of […] “.

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

An unusual presentation

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The two producers Maria Bello and Cathy Schulman presented to Viola Davis The Woman King project in an unlikely context: during the Women Making History Awards ceremony in 2015, where Bello presented an award to the actress.

She remembers: “When Maria came up on the podium to give me my award, she said ‘I’m going to pitch you a film in which I’m sure you would all like to see Viola Davis play a role’. She told the story of the Agojié and Dahomey, and everyone started to applaud! That’s how I discovered that there was real dramaturgical material there”.

Preparation and stunts

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In order to best embody the fearsome warriors that were the Agojié, the actresses underwent specific training, under the supervision of the head stuntman and fight coordinator Daniel Hernandez and the nutritionist and trainer of the main actors Gabriela Mclain. Hernandez wanted the actresses to do 90% of their fight scenes. They trained two times a day, six days a week.

“At first it was about lifting a lot of weight in interval training with very little rest – tiring out one type of muscle before immediately moving on to another,” explains Gabriela Mclain. They were intensively introduced to martial arts as well as bodybuilding. Nutrition also played a big role. They followed strict menus and ate more than usual: five meals a day with lots of protein and few carbohydrates.

Their male partners have not escaped training: Jimmy Odukoya has learned martial arts and machete handling, Jordan Bolger and Hero Fiennes Tiffin have learned to use period muskets.

The importance of red

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Red is the key color of Dahomey: the earth is red and the walls are made of adobe brick [faite de terre mêlée de paille, séchée au soleil]. Production designer Akin McKenzie explains: “Red clay 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 it in our realm. We perceive a vibrant touch in adequacy with this people and its universe. »

This red earth, specific to Benin and constitutive of architecture and roads, is not found as it is in South Africa. Fortunately, the production spotted a mine, near Cape Town, which produced exactly the same color of earth for the needs of the filming. Using it was not without difficulty for the team as it reacted to humidity by turning into clay. So this real red earth was mixed with other elements to make the filming easier.