The Woman King star, Sheila Atim has her eyes on her next battle: playing Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame remake

Back to The Woman King and #BoycottWomanKing was trending on Twitter ahead of the movie’s release, with it coming under attack as some believed the movie ignored – or revised – the Agojie warrior’s past which included them capturing and selling individuals in the transatlantic slave trade. The worries are quashed by watching the movie, but given the warriors were involved in the slave trade, was Sheila nervous about taking on the role?

“We were all aware of it, but not in a way that deterred us or frightened us. We knew that the film not only addresses it, it was integral to the narrative of the film and is addressed within the first 30 seconds,” she responds, pointing to The Woman’s King’s overt and clear focus on the topic. “I understand completely why there can be so much contention around not just the slave trade or art around the slave trade, but ‘Black trauma’ in general. I use that in inverted commas because it’s not a complete term but for the purpose of now it is what I’ll use. I understand why for a long time we were only allowed to make art about trauma and we don’t always feel like we want to have that reflected back to us. At the same time there’s the truth and we deal in the truth when we’re not dealing in fantasy. I think we need to see that as long as it’s handled with care, with consideration, with intelligence, with discussion and then it can serve a really genuine purpose.”

“One of the places that we screened the film was at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC which is the largest museum for African American history,” Sheila continues. “That museum absolutely has to exist. We can’t just say that because there is a tragically painful history in there that we should ignore it, forget about it and leave it. It’s important to exhume those stories but it’s important to be very aware of exactly what you are exhuming, treat the people who are a part of those stories with dignity, and also accept that you will not please everyone. For anybody who may have preconceptions about what they think this film is about, I’d just encourage them to go and see it because it’s not revisionist at all and I know that great pains were taken by the all of the creative team to really pull out as much truth as they could from history and make sure they put it into this film.”

Just as our time wraps up, I wonder what lasting lessons The Woman King has taught Sheila? “It taught me really how to move through challenge. It was a tough shoot and the story itself was tough. A lot of that actually was to do with vulnerability and accepting where my limits were, challenging myself but also being proud when I knew I’d done my best and going easy on myself. I took away the understanding that actually my strength is more of a varied and diverse thing than I once realised; it’s not just about smashing through until you reach what you think is your desired result.”

Now those are the words of a true, real life warrior.

The Woman King is in cinemas now.