You will address her as President Viola from now on.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, fresh off the success of The Woman King, the Oscar-winner will star in and produce G20 for Prime Video. When the G20 Summit is “overtaken by terrorists,” President Taylor Sutton (Davis) “must bring all her statecraft and military experience to bear to defend her family, her fellow leaders, and, of course, the world.”
Hollywood has a long love affair with films like Air Force One, London Has Fallen and White House Down, where the president becomes the action hero and saves the day. However, the commander-in-chief is rarely ever Black or a woman, and they’re absolutely never a Black woman. And let’s be honest, if there’s a Black woman who’s going to be believable as an ass-kicking president it’s Viola Davis.
“Viola is truly a one-of-a-kind talent both in front of and behind the camera, and we can’t wait to watch her bring the dynamic character that is President Sutton to life,” Julie Rapaport, head of movies at Amazon Studios, said in a statement.
Viola is at the top of my “will watch in anything” list and after the badassery she displayed in The Woman King, I’d like to see her in more action movies. Just take one of those bland scripts you keep giving to Liam Neeson and let her work some Black Girl Magic on it. If she’s heading into the action star period of her career, now is the time while she’s still got a little left in the tank from her The Woman King training regimen. In preparing for that film, the How to Get Away With Murder star was very open about how hard she worked, telling Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, “I was 56 when I trained to be this warrior: five hours a day, hour and a half of weight training, three and a half hours of martial arts (punching), 10.0 on the treadmill.”
If Viola Davis has decided she’s in her action movie bag now, the rest of the world better look out. And if you need to see Viola the action hero for yourself, The Woman King is available to own on digital Nov. 22. She can also be seen reprising her role as Amanda Waller in Black Adam, which is currently in theaters.