It's been a great summer for Polly Morgan; the cinematographer has had two movies release. The first was Where the Crawdads Sing back in July, and the second — and the topic of our Zoom interview at Toronto International Film Festival 2022 — is The Woman King, which had its world premiere at TIFF before it's wider theatrical release this past weekend. "I actually got sent the script [for The Woman King] while I was on-location in Louisiana [for] Where the Crawdads Sing," Morgan says. "I was just blown away when I read it. I was amazed by the scope of it, but also how beautifully written the relationships between these women were. It touched on so many different themes."
Starring Viola Davis as General Nanisca, who leads an all-star cast that includes Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, and John Boyega, The Woman King brings to life the true story of an all-women fighting force called the Agojie, who protect the West African Kingdom of Dahomey (as outlined by TIME). Written by Dana Stevens and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, the film is a sprawling historical picture set in 1832, and, earning rave reviews, has been likened to Gladiator and Braveheart. "I met Gina via Zoom, as we all do these days. We [talked about how] we wanted to make it feel like an epic. We wanted the make the environment feel really lush and rich and really make it colorful."
One of the larger goals that Prince-Bythewood had, according to Morgan, was to "photograph not only [the women's] strength, but their vulnerability, and really highlight the beauty of Black skin." Indeed, in an interview with Polygon, Prince-Bythewood touched on her earlier conversation with Morgan about properly lighting Black skin: "Going in, the first conversation I had with Polly is that we needed to light our women better than they've ever looked before. Because there's been an absolute history of Black actors being lit horribly. [...] And so that was absolutely every day, 'How do they look? Are we honoring these women and showing their beauty, or shooting them beautifully?' And Polly did."
On Shooting the Fight Choreography and Battle Scenes
With any action movie involving grand set-pieces and intricate fight choreography, of course, production of The Woman King proved a technical challenge. "The montage training sequence at the beginning, we always knew would be like the Rocky montage, getting to know these women quickly and going on that journey with them. We decided to film that [with] multiple camera angles, lots of different shots, in a way that the pace would go quite quickly and be energetic and put to music," says Morgan. "As far as the battles go, we really wanted to highlight the physicality of these women and that they trained for months to be able to do the stunts themselves."
One specific solution Morgan and her team devised was a "rig, which we nicknamed 'the spring balance', which was a camera on a remote head hung off a cable that was attached to a crane." This allowed her to move the camera alongside the actors while maintaining and steady and fluid picture. "It was a way of almost being handheld without that handheld feel, and it enabled us to move in and out and really capture the action and the stunts as they unfolded. We could move from one actor to another, and make these shots long and really highlight that we weren't using doubles."
On Being Part of The Woman King
From Sarah Polley's Women Talking, which was voted as the runner-up of TIFF's much-coveted People's Choice Award to Sally El Hosaini's The Swimmers, which was chosen as the festival's opening film, women filmmakers, artists, and stories have mapped a definitive landscape at this year's TIFF. This, of course, speaks to larger conversations about gender equity in the industry. For Morgan, being part of Prince-Bythewood's team in bringing The Woman King to life was a monumental opportunity. "It was such an honor to tell a story that I think is so important for African history and culture. Especially in today's time, moving forward to help inspire young Black girls and boys to see themselves on the big screen."
For The Woman King in particular, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Prince-Bythewood "prioritized department heads who were women and people of color." This, of course, included Morgan. "I think it's powerful to see a group of women standing side by side with each other and fighting together, and that sisterhood that comes with it," she says. "Not to get too political, but in today's world, where women are being told what to do with their bodies, maybe having their rights taken away, or in certain countries not having those rights to begin with — what can happen when women stand in unity with each other is another theme we can take from this movie."
The Woman King is now playing in theaters.