I asked her the standard Zoom startup question: Are we doing video or not? To which she replied, “Well, you can see me as a little girl or…” before we both burst out laughing. Instead of finishing that sentence, she materialized on the screen, apologizing for her delay.
What can be seen is the director grinning ear to ear, wearing a graphic T-shirt and black jacket in an office decorated with countless framed personal and celebrity photos of black people. But most notably, black women and girls.
That means so much when you consider that it’s a testament to the work Prince-Bythewood has put in throughout her three-decade career. There’s no doubt about it: She likes to see immortalized images of black women.
This is evident in all of her films including ‘Love & Basketball’, ‘The Secret Life of Bees’, ‘Beyond the Lights’ and ‘The Old Guard’. And he doesn’t dance around it. is intentional. In fact, for much of our conversation, he sinks into the familiar comfort of saying “we” a lot. As in, it does this for us.
Actor Sanaa Lathan is seen on the set of New Line Cinema’s ‘Love & Basketball’, circa 2000.
Michael Ochs/Getty Images files
Indeed, as Prince-Bythewood clarifies, her work is intertwined with her larger desire to deconstruct the way black femininity is treated and portrayed on screen. “I think it’s about reframing what we think of when we say woman,” she said. “It definitely started with ‘Love & Basketball,’ and that’s so autobiographical.”
This 2000 romance centers on a young black woman (Sanaa Lathan) whose love for basketball runs as deep as her love for the man next door (Omar Epps). Prince-Bythewood also played ball at school and is married to director Reggie Rock-Bythewood.
“Knowing that I grew up being told there was something wrong with me because I liked sports and I didn’t want to wear dresses — I still don’t like wearing dresses,” Prince-Bythewood continued, “so I’m really digging into those issues with The ” Beyond the Lights’ and the hypersexuality of what we’re told we’re supposed to be in our music. Then to get to ‘The Old Guard’ and then to ‘The Woman King’ — these women are incredible warriors.”
Is true. The fierce characters of ‘The Woman King’ are unlike any women we’ve seen before on film. Well, from the Dora Milaje in 2018’s “The Black Panther,” who were actually inspired by the women portrayed in the Prince-Bythewood film. But in “The Woman King,” she’s not just a part of the story. They are the story.
Lashana Lynch performs in a scene from “The Woman King”.
Ilze Kitshoff/Sony Pictures Entertainment
Prince-Bythewood and her amazing cast and crew – including actors Viola Davis (who also produces), Sucho Mbedu, Lashana Lynch and Sheila Atim – give these women the respect they deserve on the big screen. They’re multi-dimensional and complex, strong AF, and illuminated in all their glory through cinematographer Polly Morgan’s brilliant work.
“I wanted to celebrate the athletic body and their bodies and the way they see the world,” Prince-Bythewood said. “But that doesn’t take away from them as women, their humanity, their vulnerability, which is an incredible strength in itself.”
She added: “Because so many women are not taught to tap into that innate warrior within us – we’re always told to curtail it, to be quieter, to be smaller. Whereas me as an athlete growing up, I was supposed to be big. I want to give it to us.”
And has. But “The Woman King,” as the director mentioned, isn’t just about showing off the glistening, almost superhuman muscles of the black female protectors of an African kingdom. There is also a rich history revolving around the dreams, fears and politics of a homeland that is slipping out of their control due to intercontinental wars and the Atlantic slave trade.
Lashana Lynch guides Sucho Mbedu’s Nawi in “The Woman King.”
Sony Pictures Entertainment
At the heart of the film, however, are the intimate relationships between the women. Some of them are competitive, like young Nawi (Mbedu) and some of her companions. Others nurture, like the veteran warrior of Leeds, or define themselves, like Davies’ titular General Naniska. There is also an unexpected connection between a mother and her daughter.
“The phrase immediately came to mind: narrowly epic,” said Prince-Bythewood, reflecting on when she first read the script and understood its many layers. He wanted to “start with these relationships. Because at the end of the day all greatness is great and beautiful. But it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t care about the characters.”
This means that even the elaborate fight scenes—of which there are many—come across as deliberate and visceral as the quieter moments when the women exchange personal stories or dance in celebration or as an embrace of their power. This isn’t a movie that relies solely on a blockbuster action space (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Rather, “The Woman King” thrives on both its personal dimensions and its exaggerated cinematic vivacity. It shows a director at the top of her game and the many women she’s worked with who eagerly pushed themselves to their highest potential on this tight 63-day shoot in South Africa.
“I love my cast so much,” Prince-Bythewood said with a big smile.
This includes John Boyega, whose role as King Ghezo (based, like Nawi, on a real person) is small but important. Essentially, he is often there to assert his authority over Dahomey (and rule over his many wives), yet he also extends his deep admiration for the women he has put in charge of his kingdom.
Viola Davis plays Nanisca and John Boyega plays King Ghezo in ‘The Woman King’.
Ilze Kitshoff/Sony Pictures Entertainment
When Prince-Bythewood met with Boyega about the role, she was impressed by his commitment to uplifting the women in his midst. “He’s used to playing leading roles and he literally said, ‘I want to use my power to help you do this,’” he recalls. “I want to be there to support you.” That never happens.”
This feeling of support has resonated throughout the production. “Often you finish the scene and people go back to the trailers,” added Prince-Bythewood. “A lot of people didn’t leave the set on that one. They wanted to watch each other work.”
Honestly, who could blame them? The set itself, by production designer Akin McKenzie, is absolutely stunning and immediately immerses the audience, as well as the cast, in the story.
“I wanted to give the actors a 360 world to play in,” said the director. “I could see 1800. I don’t want you to look up and see a car or a plane overhead. I want you to be in there with your feet on that red earth and it would be real.”
“Akin did such an incredible job and it was amazing to be on that set because the outside world kind of fell away.”
To call the “Woman King” a giant would almost be an understatement. It’s a revelation and bigger than anything Prince-Bythewood has done before. But it was an opportunity he had been preparing for for some time.
Viola Davis and Gina Prince-Bythewood talk on the set of ‘The Woman King’.
Ilze Kitshoff/Sony Pictures Entertainment
“I would say for the last 10 years I’ve had the desire to make a big movie like this for us,” he said. “Braveheart is one of my favorite movies. We have not received anything like this.”
As the director has stated in several interviews in the past, she had her eye on a story about Haitian general Toussaint Louverture for years. One of her two sons also shares his name.
“[The Louverture movie] it was a story that had been percolating in my head that I wanted to do,” Prince-Bythewood said. “I also had a desire to play in the bigger sandbox, certainly what ‘Old Guard’ allowed me to do. Once you’re there, you just want to keep going further.”
“The Woman King” gave her a chance to be in that sandbox “in a way that we’ve never had a chance to do — except for ‘Black Panther,’ of course,” she continued. “I just felt like all my work up to this point had led me to this moment where I felt like I knew how to make this movie the right way.”
So Bendu faces a dangerous threat as Nawi in ‘The Woman King’.
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Prince-Bythewood actually felt that way five years ago, when she first came across the project, with Davis already attached, the same way many of us hear about upcoming movies: via an online article.
And she somehow felt that she had not been approached then. “I literally said to myself, ‘Why didn’t they come to me?’ he remembers.
Then they did, but there was no script. When she asked them to come back to her when they had it – what ended up being the wonderful narrative of Mario Bello and Dana Stevens – it was only a year and a half ago, when Prince-Bythewood decided to take a breather after “The Old Guard. ”
But after reading the script, the filmmaker, ready as ever, knew she had to jump at the chance. “It was absolute,” he said. “I have to make this movie.” Not a “I want to”. Should.”
However, she remembered her promise to take time off and decided…
