Viola Davis has been defending this film as a producer since Day one, said TriStar Pictures president Nicole Brown during a cinemacon during which she presented The Woman King at Sony's CinemaCon session.
The historical film is inspired by the real events that occurred in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of Africa's most powerful states in the 18th and 19th centuries. Davis plays Nanisca in the theater just in time for the awards season on September 16.
While Gina Prince-Bythewood was taking the stage to introduce the film, the whole session was followed by an introduction to Davis, who was recognized with the CinemaCon Trailblazer of the Year. A sizzle reel of Davis' work from Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, and other films was played before the Oscar-winning actress took the stage.
Viola Davis, the first filmmaker of the year to launch CinemaCon, has dubbed The Woman King her "magum opus."
"You know the five words I would not take to my grave would be, 'I was not brave enough.' That I didn't risk discomfort or failure exposure," said the actress.
Cecily Tyson, who married and married at the age of 9 was her inspiration. "I just knew that when I was young, the immense skill that gave me to believe in something bigger than my own," she said. "I wanted to do that in my acting as an actor I wanted to portray people who were never married in a context similar to me... and as a producer who characterized those stories with me."
"There is a whole generation of people who want to be involved in the story," she said.
As white settlers arrive on the coast, Davis is leading a tribe in the trailer. Nanisca tells her tribe that the settlers "won't stop until the whole of Africa is theirs."
King Ghezo of John Boyego calls his son "you're urging me to take them to war" in Nanisca.
"Some things are worth fighting for," she says of the incident.
"I offer you a choice: fight or we die," she says of her tribesmen, saying, "We fight for our descendants, we fight for the future."
