Viola Davis calls ‘The Woman King’ her ‘magnum opus’ at Toronto film fest

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The film, which opens Sept. 16, is inspired by the true story of a group of female warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s. Davis, 57, leads the contingent of fighters, who influenced the Dora Milaje in Black Panther, as the fearsome General Nanisca.

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“This film is for the risk-takers,” an emotional Davis told the near sell-out crowd at Roy Thomson Hall. “This film is for the people who maybe even are the naysayers — who never believed that a Black woman, especially dark-skinned women, can lead a global box office.”

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Directed and co-written by Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Old Guard), the film co-stars Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel) and John Boyega (Star Wars), who said the project is “a call to action.”

But it was Davis that garnered the most cheers during her impassioned introduction and post-screening Q&A.

“I feel like my entire life I have allowed myself to be defined by a culture. I have allowed myself to be defined by the naysayers. I’m in a profession that’s defined by deprivation,” she said. “A lot of times, you just allow other people to define you and at 56 years old I have come to the realization that I can define myself.”

She also said she wanted her fearless performance to be an inspiration to young Black women.

“I want to do for young Black girls what Miss [Cecily] Tyson did for me when I was seven years old,” Davis said. “She was the physical manifestation of the dream, and she came to me through a broken-down television set in a dilapidated apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island. What she delivered to me is something that cannot be quantified in words.”