John Boyega on how letter from The Woman King director shaped performance
The former Star Wars actor plays a version of the real-life figure King Ghezo in the new film.
John Boyega has revealed how a personal letter from The Woman King director Gina Prince-Bythewood put him in "the right mindset" to say yes to a role in the new historical epic.
The former Star Wars actor plays a version of the real-life figure King Ghezo in the new film, and during an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com he talked about how Prince-Bythewood reached out directly to him before he was cast.
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"It's definitely different from how offers usually come," he explained. "Usually it's my agent speaking while he's in Nandos. I won't quite hear what the offer is, I'm like 'What?'
"There was something about this being just packaged, and I think the reason was [that I was] coming in late and the commitment that our ladies have towards these roles was going to be 10 times more than the supporting cast."
The historical epic, which is released in UK cinemas today (Tuesday 4th October 2022), is a largely fictionalised story of the Agojie, an all-female group of warriors formed to protect the Dahomey Kingdom – what is now Benin.
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Boyega continued: "So it was up to us, you know, to bring the A-game in where we kind of had our realm – which is obviously the political and the social scenes that we were involved in. So for us, it was just like coming in and being supportive for them.
"But getting that letter, it's like a call to action – you kind of know what mentality is required to join an already solid military unit in which they're suffering, going through the gym process and doing all of that. So it definitely put me in the right mindset and mind frame to say yes."
The Woman King is now playing in UK cinemas. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.
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