Viola Davis hopes The Woman King inspires Black girls the way Cicely Tyson inspired her
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Viola Davis hopes her historical epic The Woman King carries legendary actress Cicely Tyson's legacy into the future.
Following Friday night's world-premiere screening of the Gina Prince-Bythewood-directed film, the Oscar-winning actress responded to an audience question about a message she hopes the film conveys to young Black women seeing her on screen as a powerful African warrior.
"What is my message? That you're worthy. You know, everything starts with worth, and I think there is a continual message in our culture that we are not worthy," Davis said, going on to cite the late Tyson, who died in 2021 after blazing a trail for Black actresses in Hollywood, as a woman who changed her outlook on life from a young age.
"There is a sense that we are the leftovers, and what I continue to say is I want to do for young Black girls what Miss [Cicely] Tyson did for me when I was 7 years old," continued Davis. "She was a physical manifestation of a dream, and she came to me through a broke-down television set in a dilapidated apartment in Central Falls, R.I. What she delivered to me is something that can't even be quantified in words. That's what I would give to young Black girls…. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls the butterfly. That's what I would give to them, and this movie is a gift to them."
Ilze Kitshoff/TriStar Pictures
Earlier at TIFF, Prince-Bythewood told PEOPLE and EW that the film — and her entire filmography as a director — is about "reframing what it means to be female and feminine." In The Woman King, she tells that story through the lens of an all-female army, the Agojie, who fought to protect their people from enslavement in the 19th century.
"I hate the narrative that women aren't strong and there's something wrong with muscles or being athletic. I wanted to celebrate the athleticism, the skill, strength, swagger, I really put that up on screen for people to be inspired by it," Prince-Bythewood said. Davis added that she, too, bulked up her body and soul for the physically demanding project.
"We did the weight lifting and blasted the music right on our driveway," Davis recalled. "There is something to be said about breaking that barrier of what you feel like you can't do. That gives you a swagger. You begin to feel yourself, and you begin to really appreciate when your body is working for you as a woman, the strength of it. There are times when I'm now walking in the grocery store I walk in the parking lot of Vons, like, yeah, I'm here. It gives you a huge swagger."
The Woman King opens in theaters on Sept. 16. Watch PEOPLE and EW's full interview with Davis and the cast above.
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