00:00Well, with me, you know, I'm over 50, so I said, make this ground smooth so I don't trip over
00:04these rocks.
00:06And then when, you know, when the bullet came at me, I was the first time, I mean, I just
00:11ducked. I'm not going to lie.
00:23Miss Davis, there's a very powerful scene where Naniska is pointing out the scars that she has and how they're
00:31almost an emotional reminder of the journey she took to get to that point.
00:34I'm just curious if you gave stories to the presence of those scars and what they might have meant to
00:39her getting up to that point.
00:40I think the scars were a badge of honor because it showed that she lived a life and she survived,
00:48you know, and I think that a lot of people feel like you're not your scars.
00:54I believe that you are your scars. I do.
01:00And not just the scars on her body, the scars that were even inside her from being a rape survivor.
01:11And that's one of the things that I wanted to pass on to Naui in that moment, is that your
01:18scars are your pride.
01:20They're your badge. They're your sword.
01:23You use them. You use them as warrior fuel, you know, and I think that's a great message for women
01:31today, because I think sometimes we want it so easy.
01:34We don't want the scars. But I think that by the time, you know, I say God, you know, takes
01:42me from this earth, I want a lot of battle scars.
01:45That means that I fought and I fought to win and I was brave enough to fight.
01:50And I think with Naui in that moment, she thinks the scars are cool, but doesn't fully comprehend the pain
01:58or what it means to have actual scars.
02:01And that's women today or people today, where it's like, yeah, I am this, I've achieved this, but they don't
02:08actually fully comprehend what it takes to be that which they aspire to be.
02:12Exactly.
02:13And that you have to kind of go through it to be that, to be an Inesca.
02:18Absolutely.
02:19There are battles to be fought.
02:20I got scared to death that we were not going to be able to come back.
02:25Omicron hit us three weeks into shooting and hit us hard.
02:30And I just didn't know, did we shoot enough where the studio would say, well, we have to come back?
02:35Or was it not enough where they said, let's just cut our losses?
02:39I did not know.
02:40Would the actors come back?
02:42You know, there was so much unknown at that moment.
02:45But for us, South Africa handled everything beautifully.
02:49Everyone wore masks, everybody stayed sanitized, and it dissipated very quickly.
02:55So that was huge.
02:57And the second, when you're shooting a film like this with a scope, you need a lot of background.
03:02With the stunts, you have people fighting face to face.
03:06How could we still do that safely, keep our actors safe, keep the background safe?
03:10And so we had to cut down the numbers significantly.
03:13That was tough to have to switch my mindset of where the camera can go to hide the fact that
03:19instead of having 300, I've got 150.
03:23And just having tricks of, okay, let's bubble all the actors in the hotel that are going to be face
03:29to face with the actors.
03:29But we had to keep everyone safe.
03:31Because one of the film's strongest themes is that of mentorship and of training the next level, the next generation,
03:38and that generation kind of living up to the expectations of their teachers.
03:41And I'm just curious if that happened to be the vibe on set when working with someone like Viola, whether
03:46you consider her a mentor and wanted to almost act to make her proud.
03:52Viola is absolutely a mentor, even when she doesn't realize she's being one.
03:57She doesn't, you know, position herself as that as well.
04:00She's not somebody who forces that upon you or imposes this sense of leadership.
04:05She just is.
04:06And actually, much of her leadership comes through her compassion and her gentle side and her maternal side, you know,
04:16somebody who's always encouraging us to be ourselves, to be authentic, to listen to ourselves, to engage with our vulnerability
04:24as well, which isn't an easy thing to do as a black person, as a black woman, as an actor
04:28as well.
04:29I think there's a lot that's expected of us in terms of, you know, the role that we should fulfill
04:36and the image that we should project outwards of how we're feeling, how we are.
04:42And Viola was, you know, instrumental in supporting us through that.
04:47And she's also really funny and that's, but that's massive when you're looking at somebody who you've looked up to
04:53and you're just like, I just hope they're really nice.
04:54And then she's joking and you're like, it's just easy, man.
04:57So yeah, love Viola.
04:59It's literally a case of I'm learning from her, just from her existing, just because of who she is as
05:06a person.
05:07I learned from Sheila, I learned from Lashana, I learned from every single person who was on set because they
05:13all had something to give from Polly, the DOP, you know, Gina, the director.
05:17Um, Viola has been with me since, you know, pre-production training, um, where we were fighting, struggling, sweating, crying
05:30together, muscles aching.
05:33And it was just her humanity that I felt most, most drawn to, and that made me feel safe enough
05:42to be able to take the risks that I did with Naui in the moment.
05:47Naui is an incredible character.
05:49Who can I find to embody her?
05:52Underground hadn't come out yet.
05:53I just knew that Barry, who I trust implicitly, had cast this young woman, Tuso, and she auditioned.
05:59It was over Zoom, and the moment her face popped up on my screen, I just cared about her, um,
06:07and I kind of like, is this, is this her?
06:09And then she started to read.
06:11Tuso is an absolute generational talent.
06:14She is that good.
06:15And knowing I needed someone who could go toe-to-toe with Viola Davis, um, I believed her immediately.
06:22Then I needed her to meet with Viola, and that conversation between those two was magical.
06:28And Viola, after, said, I don't even know her, but I feel maternal towards her.
06:33Um, and then the last step, though, was Tuso had never done anything athletic in her life, and I needed
06:41to, I needed her to meet with Dani Hernandez, our stunt and fight coordinator.
06:45So we put her through some paces for about an hour.
06:48It was supposed to be an hour.
06:50And it ended up being two hours, because she didn't want to stop.
06:53And when we saw that, that mentality of wanting to be great, wanting to put in the work, I said,
06:59I can trust her.
07:00She, she had enough that we could build on.
07:02And Tuso, from the moment she got cast in April, started training in May, all the way through the following
07:08March, um, six days a week, two times a day.
07:12It was incredible, her work ethic, and, and she's incredible in the movie.
07:16Uh, Lashana, the fight choreography obviously is insane.
07:18Um, there's a moment in the middle of the battle where, uh, Viola blocks a bullet with her sword, and
07:23then you hand her another one.
07:24Yeah!
07:25Oh!
07:26Mad!
07:27Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:28Oh my god.
07:29So badass.
07:31Um, can you talk about actually filming that moment?
07:33I, that's funny, that moment was a blur for me, because firstly, me and Viola Davis are just casually walking
07:38through a battle, and she gets disarmed, and I'm like, don't worry about it, I got, here, I got you.
07:44That's insane to even think about.
07:46I mean, like, Sheila was saying, like, you, you watch people that you admire for so long, and you're like,
07:50gosh, I really hope I get the opportunity to work with them.
07:53And then you have these really special moments that you share with them on screen that you could never conjure
07:58up on your own.
07:59And I'm so glad that Gina was able to, Gina and our, um, stunt coordinator, uh, Danny Hernandez, were able
08:05to, were able to carve out these moments for these characters that showed their character within the, uh, the choreography.
08:12That was really important.
08:13And even the fact that she's doing it, the fact that she is blocking a bullet with her machete is
08:18insane.
08:18And how Azogi is able to think so quickly and, and protect her general in the way that she does,
08:23and then go off and have their own individual fights, and then come back.
08:27Yeah, that was hard.
08:28And they just armed them and they, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
08:30Okay, and then the, I call that the ready for war.
08:33Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:34That's what I call it. It's the ready for war.
08:35I'll take it. I'll take it.
08:37Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:37All of it, man.
08:39Amongst all the chaos, like you mentioned, there's so much going on all the time.
08:43We, you know, actors, editors make it look very easy when we're able to make moments come by really fast.
08:51but that was took a lot of studying actually we rehearsed it and then we got on set and had
08:58to
08:58change a lot of things and there was a lot of switching out and how's the angle gonna work and
09:04how do I even feel doing that that quickly I've never put a machete up straight like that and
09:10given it to someone that's not a move that Azogi does anywhere else so I feel yeah I feel really
09:16honored to be have been able to share that moment with her well with me you know I'm over 50
09:20so I
09:21said make this ground smooth so I don't trip over these rocks and then when you know the when the
09:27bullet came at me I was the first time I mean I just ducked I'm not gonna lie I think
09:31we had so
09:32many takes where I just ducked and I just let that sword right on that field I said I need
09:37a break
09:39I love the battle scene I really I love taking down the dudes I I'm not gonna lie yeah I
09:45love
09:45taking down the dudes special shout out to Danny Hernandez yes Janelle Stevens yeah brilliant mind
09:54beautiful choreographer yes always made us feel safe we look cool we look badass we look like we're
10:00taking risks but we're always safe yes it's just the thing with me I like to I know as me
10:06as a movie
10:06goer when I sit down in that seat and the lights go down I just want to be enveloped and
10:12I just want to
10:12start you know and I want people to forget that you're watching a movie and that I hope that you're
10:19just enveloped and feel like you're watching real life and for me starting with credits and the song
10:23and all that I feel kind of takes you out of that for a moment like oh I'm watching a
10:27movie I just want
10:28you to go John I'm out of time but I love you also but I have these two I had
10:33to ask them so
10:34I wanted to know the answer to that as well thank you so much thank you I'm blessed all right
10:39guys appreciate your time
10:40bye
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