When it comes to examples of iconic cinematic battle scenes, they don’t come much bigger and better than those of 1995’s William Wallace drama Braveheart (think the Battle of Falkirk, with its flaming arrows and ferocious sword-fighting) or Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning Gladiator (think the initial battle of the Romans against the Germanic tribes, all clashing shields and speeding horses). The thrill of seeing two rival armies sprinting towards each other across a battlefield is one we’ve seen time and time again on the big screen.
With new historical epic The Woman King, director Gina Prince-Bythewood is bringing us a kind of battle we’ve rarely (if ever) seen before, fought entirely by the dark-skinned Black women that made up the Agojie, the real-life West African all-female military force – and classics like Gladiator and Braveheart are exactly where she’s drawing inspiration from. “It felt like our Braveheart,” Prince-Bythewood says. “Braveheart is one of my favourite movies. But we don’t get to see ourselves like that.” But that is about to change.
Set in 1823, the film brings to light the Agojie’s incredible story, and how they defended the West African kingdom of Dahomey from the 17th to the 19th century, with Viola Davis starring as leader General Nanisca. As you’d expect – and as seen in the powerful trailer recently released – there is plenty of action to look forward to, including one massive conflict between the Dahomey and Oyo Empires, shot over 11 days in South Africa. “I just thought about all those great battles in Braveheart or Gladiator,” Prince-Bythewood recalls. “And now we get to do ours. On paper, it’s a ten-page sequence. We had thousands of extras closing with each other in an epic David versus Goliath battle that’s one of my favourite sequences in the film.”
Such an intense shoot takes it toll, as explained by star Lashana Lynch, who plays fearsome Agojie lieutenant Izogie. “Though I’ve done stunts before, I’ve never had the chance to do my own stunts completely,” Lynch says. “From start to finish, I did not want my stunt double to have one breath. We lifted each other up on days when we quite literally wanted to vomit, but knew we weren’t allowed to. Nobody wanted to let the side down.” Judging by the exclusive image above of Lynch in action as Izogie, she did a pretty good job with those stunts. We certainly wouldn’t fancy our chances in a fight…
Read Empire’s full The Woman King feature in the upcoming House Of The Dragon issue – on sale Thursday 4 August and available to pre-order online here. The Woman King comes to UK cinemas from 4 October.