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.
01:46That 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.
03:56And she 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.
04:15You know, somebody who's always encouraging us to be ourselves, to be authentic, to listen to ourselves, to engage with
04:23our vulnerability as well.
04:24Which isn't an easy thing to do as a black person, as a black woman, as an actor as 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 way that we should, 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.
04:48And that's, but that's massive when you're looking at somebody who you've looked up to and you're just like, I
04:53just 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.
05:40And that made me feel safe enough to be able to take the risks that I did with Nali in
05:46the moment.
05:47Nali 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.
05:58And she auditioned, it was over Zoom.
06:01And the moment her face popped up on my screen, I just cared about her.
06:06Um, and 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.
06:25And that conversation between those two was magical.
06:29And 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.
06:39And I needed to, 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 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.
07:14And she's incredible in the movie.
07:15Uh, 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.
07:24Yes!
07:25Oh!
07:26Mad!
07:27Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:28Oh my gosh.
07:29I just, it's so badass.
07:31Um, can you talk about actually filming that moment?
07:33Uh, that's funny.
07:34That moment was a blur for me.
07:35Because firstly, me and Viola Davis are just casually walking through a battle and she gets disarmed and I'm like,
07:41don't worry about it, I got, here, I got you.
07:43That'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 stunt coordinator, Danny Hernandez, were able to, were
08:06able to carve out these moments for these characters that showed their character within the, 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.
08:19And how Azoghi 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.
08:27And then.
08:28And then.
08:29Yeah, yeah.
08:29Yeah.
08:30And then.
08:31I 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 tell you.
08:36I'll tell you.
08:37Yeah, yeah.
08:37All of it, man.
08:38Amongst 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, come by really
08:51fast.
08:51But that was, took a lot of studying.
08:55Actually, we, we, we rehearsed it.
08:57And then we got on set and had to change a lot of things.
09:00Um, and there was a lot of switching out and how's the angle going to work?
09:04And how do I even feel doing that that quickly?
09:08I've never put a machete up straight like that and given it to someone.
09:11That's not a move that Azoghi does anywhere else.
09:13So I feel, um, yeah, I feel really honored to be, have been able to share that moment with her.
09:19Well, with me, you know, I'm over 50.
09:20So I said, make this ground smooth so I don't trip over these rocks.
09:25And then when, you know, the, when the bullet came at me, I was the first time.
09:29I, I mean, I just ducked.
09:30I'm not going to lie.
09:31I think we had so many takes where I just ducked and I just left that sword right on that
09:35field.
09:36I said, I need a break.
09:39I love the battle scene.
09:41I, I really, I love taking down the dudes.
09:43I, I, I'm not going to lie.
09:45Yeah.
09:45I love taking down the dudes.
09:46Special shout out to Danny Hernandez.
09:48Danny Hernandez.
09:49Yes.
09:50Janelle Stevens.
09:52Brilliant mind.
09:54Beautiful choreographer.
09:55Yes.
09:55Always made us feel safe.
09:57We look cool.
09:58We look badass.
09:59We look like we're taking risks, but we're always safe.
10:02Yes.
10:03It's just the thing with me.
10:04I like to, I know as me as a moviegoer, when I sit down in that seat and the lights
10:09go down,
10:10I just want to be enveloped and I just want to start, you know, and I want people to forget
10:16that you're watching a movie and that I hope that you're just enveloped.
10:20You often feel like you're watching real life.
10:21And for me, starting with credits and the song and all that, I feel kind of takes you out of
10:25that for a moment.
10:26Like, oh, I'm watching a movie.
10:27I just want you to go.
10:29John, I'm out of time, but I love you also.
10:31But I have these two.
10:32I had to ask them.
10:33Hey, my good questions, man.
10:35I wanted some of the answers to that.
10:37Thank you so much.
10:39I'm glad.
10:39All right, guys.
10:39Appreciate your time.
10:40Bye.
10:41Bye.
10:42Bye bye.
10:43Bye bye.
10:43Bye bye.
