Toronto Review: Viola Davis In Gina Prince-Bythewood’s ‘The Woman King’

Clayton Davis After two weeks of solid showings at the box office, excellent reviews and passionate fan responses, “The Woman King” has become one of the year’s standout hits, with plans to be competitive in the awards races for both major and artisan category attention.  One of the film’s standout stars, Thuso Mbedu, who plays the young Nawi, will be campaigning for supporting actress attention, Variety has learned. Academy Award winner Viola Davis (“Fences”) will be the sole actress campaigning for lead actress.  Mbedu, who was the breakout sensation of 2021’s Emmy-nominated series “The Underground Railroad” from director Barry Jenkins, will compete in supporting alongside her co-stars Sheila Atim, Jayme Lawson, Adrienne Warren and most prominent, Lashana Lynch. All of the male actors, including John Boyega, will be competing in supporting actor. 

Viola Davis is addressing the controversy surrounding her new film.

“Woman King.”The star and producer of the female war epic has responded to critics and the recent #BoycottWomanKing movement.Users across social media have been calling for fans to not buy a ticket to the film. They believe that the film is historically inaccurate and glorifies the role that the African kingdom — the Dahomey — had in the slave trade in the 19th century.The Oscar winner, 57, and her husband (as well as producing partner) Julius Tennon defended the flick to Variety in a recent interview.“I agree with [director] Gina Prince-Bythewood’s saying is you’re not going to win an argument on Twitter,” Davis said.

Viola Davis is responding to the accusations that her movie The Woman King is not historically accurate.

Clayton Davis As the filmmaking team for “The Woman King” travels to Brazil to promote the historical epic, Viola Davis and her husband and producing partner Julius Tennon are celebrating the success of the film’s no. 1 debut at the box office, grossing $19 million domestically. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 10, followed by opening in theaters one week later. It’s one of the rare films where critics and general audiences given it a similarly positive reception, with a 95% critics score and 99% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. It even pulled off an “A+” Cinema Score. Davis emphasizes that the story of “The Woman King” can connect to all audiences, not only Black women.

Over the weekend, “The Woman King” easily won the box office battle. Better yet, the historical action film was a hit with fans who gave it an A+ CinemaScore.

Viola Davis is checking out the sights in Rio de Janeiro!

“The Woman King” has stormed into theaters. The 1800s West Africa-set story was directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (“The Old Guard”), with a story by Maria Bello and script by Dana Stevens. Star and producer Viola Davis and Prince-Bythewood have discussed in several interviews the long journey it took to get this story on the big screen. Davis leads an incredible cast of actors, which we will detail below.

Viola Davis was worried she was going to have a heart attack while training for epic new movie The Woman King. During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday night, the Oscar-winning actress described the gruelling fitness regime she had to undertake to prepare for her role as General Nanisca in the historical drama about the Agojie, the all-female warrior unit that protected a West African kingdom during the 17th to 19th centuries. "I was 56 when I trained to be this warrior.

Viola Davis is stepping out for a special screening of her new movie!

TORONTO – Venice, Telluride, and TIFF have pretty much come and gone, and, as such, the Oscar race is slightly more clear than it was just two weeks ago. Sure, there are a number of major players yet to show their wares such as Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon,” James Cameron’s “Avatar 2,” David O.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Fresh off its enthusiastic world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, the Viola Davis-led historical epic “The Woman King” will touch down in 3,700 North American movie theaters over the weekend. The domestic box office desperately needs a boost, but will U.S. audiences be as receptive as festival-goers in Canada? Touted as the real-life “Black Panther,” Sony’s “The Woman King” is aiming to collect at least $15 million in its domestic debut. Independent box office observers are optimistic that opening weekend returns could reach $17 million to $20 million. Yet Sony, who co-financed the movie with eOne, is projecting $12 million, in line with 2018’s “Widows,” which also starred Davis. Replicating those ticket sales, even with tempered pandemic-expectations, would be tepid-at-best since “The Woman King” carries a $50 million price tag.

TORONTO – Venice, Telluride, and TIFF have pretty much come and gone, and, as such, the Oscar race is slightly more clear than it was just two weeks ago. Sure, there are a number of major players yet to show their wares such as Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon,” James Cameron’s “Avatar 2,” David O.

Manori Ravindran International Editor The stars descended on Soho House in downtown Toronto on Saturday for Variety and Chanel’s Female Filmmakers’ Dinner during the Toronto International Film Festival. Guests in attendance included Tilda Swinton, star of Joanna Hogg’s “The Eternal Daughter”; Gina Prince-Bythewood, director of “The Woman King”; Darren Aronofsky, director of “The Whale”; and Anna Kendrick, who’s in Toronto shopping her new AGC Studios project “The Dating Game” to market buyers. Stars mingled on a packed rooftop before convening in the club’s private dining room, which gathered around 100 of the festival’s bright lights in filmmaking. They dined on a bespoke Soho House menu of beef tartare with black truffle, black cod and bok choy, and wagyu rib cap with porcini purée.

Deadline’s studio at the 2022 edition of the Toronto Film Festival continued with Day 2 by hosting fest-goers such as Viola Davis and John Boyega from The Woman King; Sterling K. Brown from Biosphere; Lily James from What’s Love Got To Do With It? and Eddie Redmayne from The Good Nurse. Click on the photo above to launch the gallery.

glowing reception. With Viola Davis starring as General Nanisca, commander of the Agoije, an all-woman army that defends the Kingdom of Dahomey, the film depicts an ongoing war with the Oyo Empire and the leadership of Dahomey’s newest ruler, King Ghezo (John Boyega).

When fans complain about the inclusion of women of color in action franchises, they often fall back on the same talking points: it’s not about sexism, it’s just that filmmakers should create different, original movies for Black and Brown actors. Gina Prince Bythewood has done just that with “The Woman King” and proven what we already knew: that women always have and always will make formidable action heroes.