Viola Davis is no stranger to transformations.
In the past couple years alone, she’s played DC’s Amanda Waller, Ma Rainey and even Michelle Obama.
But in the warrior epic “The Woman King,” the trailer for which dropped Wednesday, Davis plays a character unlike any she’s played before.Davis stars in the film as Nanisca, the general of the real all-female military unit known as the Agojie (also known as Amazons) in the West African Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin) in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
The story is inspired by true events and follows Nanisca and Nawi (Thuso Mbedu), an ambitious recruit, as they fight enemies who have enslaved their people and violated their honor.
The unit is the inspiration behind the Dora Milaje in “Black Panther,” and its story has never been told on screen before.Davis told Vanity Fair that she underwent serious training for the physically demanding role.
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