00:00Each of you guys play one of these beautiful agogia, and I just want to hear about your characters.
00:06Why don't you tell us about Odeh?
00:08Odeh, silent assassin.
00:13Odeh!
00:16Silent assassin.
00:18She's a mysterious young woman who is not of the Dahomey kingdom.
00:24She's a mahi, and she's the outsider.
00:28And when she's very, she's trying to find herself at the same time she's trying to survive.
00:40Sheila, tell us about Amenza.
00:42Amenza is both a warrior and a spiritual leader within the Dahomey kingdom.
00:53Um, and I'm trying not to give, I'm like, and that's it?
01:00No.
01:00And she, um, she, I think like, as Adrian said, everyone within this group of women has their own personal challenges alongside the kind of wider challenge of their role, their job.
01:15Um, and, you know, I think Amenza's had a kind of similar past to Odeh, um, and feels a sense of great responsibility to balance lots of things within herself and within the group.
01:31She's kind of a caretaker of sorts.
01:34So, yeah, and she's best friend to Naniska, as well.
01:39Um, so, yeah.
01:42We've got it.
01:46Yeah.
01:47Azoge?
01:49Azoge!
01:52I just want to do it.
01:54Azoge's there.
01:56Yeah.
01:58That's a great description.
01:59Oh, my gosh, Azoge, the pleasure that is this character who is a complicated, very, uh, she's full of pain and angst and trauma and all of the rest wrapped in a very slick, proud uniform.
02:22Um, which, at bedtime is a shame, because she takes her role as being the caretaker, the trainer, the mentor, the everything for these young trainees so seriously.
02:38Um, as if she's trying to emulate what Naniska has done for her, which is being the mother, the family, the everything for these young people who were lost or could potentially continue to be lost.
02:52Um, and she channels that in such a powerful, um, forthright, brutal, um, strict way.
03:04She's the disciplinarian, um, of the palace, but she also has such, like, joy and fun within her.
03:12She's pulled it from somewhere and is able to really bounce off these, these people who give her life, like all of the life.
03:20There is a fly, there is a fly, and that's fine.
03:22And if she was, if Azoge was here, she would just, like, what are you doing?
03:25Um, she's, she's incredible.
03:30She's someone on paper that I've looked up to.
03:34The way that she's taken her family experiences, her life experience, and churned it into this ball of fire is, um, is incredible and admirable.
03:45Um, and I just feel so proud of the journey that she has with the young people.
03:54Um, yeah.
03:55Um, the, the beauty, because you just said something, and the beauty of all your characters and all you, and I will continue, is what you brought, what you brought personally to the character.
04:08And, and, and, and on set embodying it, not just as a character, but, um, as a, as a cast member.
04:17And I know there's two moments in dailies that just strike me.
04:22Um, one involves, there's a, a scene where Naui's crying, Tuso's crying.
04:28And, um, um, I said, cut, and you were still in it.
04:36And there's just a little moment.
04:37You had your arm on, your hand on Tuso's arm, and you just, you just saw this little movement of comfort, you know, which was just so striking.
04:47Um, and then with you, you had a slight injury on.
04:53And, uh, in, uh, in a scene, and same thing, as soon as I said cut, you see you, you get out of the scene, and the first thing you do was you, you look to her to see if she was okay.
05:06And so again, like that kind of thing just permeated the set.
05:10And, um, again, you certainly took that role that, that you just talked about seriously.
05:15It was really, yeah, really beautiful.
05:18Just on that point, uh, I, I, I, I don't, don't speak for everyone.
05:22I felt like I wasn't channeling my own strength in this movie.
05:28There weren't people coming in.
05:30There was support from every era coming in.
05:34Um, and I don't believe we would have been able to accomplish what we did if we hadn't had the type of support that we did.
05:42Every day, every night shoot, every morning when we thought, gosh, we're going to have to do better, have to do more, we have to push our bodies, we have to push our minds.
05:49There was something else that was propping us up.
05:51I personally needed it.
05:54And I felt that when we were depleted, when I was depleted, Tuso would come in.
05:59When Tuso was depleted, like Adrian would come in.
06:02And we were just kind of maneuvering around each other in like a microcosm of positivity, but not toxic positivity.
06:09Because it's hard and it's important to realize that this stuff is hard and it's okay for it to be hard because we're breaking through what the skin that we have right now and developing the thick skin that we need to get to the end of the shoot.
06:24And I'm just grateful we were able to do that for each other in a safe and calm way every day.
06:30So great casting.
06:32Well done.
06:33Genius.
06:34Genius that is.
06:35The gene of inspiration.
06:36Tuso.
06:37Tuso.
06:38Tell us about Naui.
06:43Naui man, she's determined, very headstrong and stubborn.
06:48And I think in everything, in the fight that she puts up, it's because more than anything she wants to belong, her deepest desire is to be wanted.
07:00I think when, you know, working on her as a character, I think one of the things that I said was that she fears being unwanted more than death, which is why she is more than willing to join the Aguji and stay and put up with it, even though it gets a little crazy.
07:24Neniska.
07:25Neniska is the general.
07:30She is a leader.
07:32And she is a leader in the deepest sense of the word.
07:35I don't think that she's a leader that's as interested in ego as she is in not leaving the fallen behind and making sure that they don't fall.
07:48I think that she definitely is a leader that will jump through the plate of glass first.
07:53And also, she is a woman that is trying to reconcile her past.
07:58Number one star.
08:01Number one star.
08:01Right.
08:02Number one star.
08:05Number one star.
08:11Number two star.
08:16The.
08:18Auf.
08:20The.
08:24The.
Comments