The Agojie narrate their own story in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “The Woman King.”

The alumnus was nominated for Outstanding Direction in a Motion Picture for the NAACP Image Awards, which take place Feb. 25. She received the nomination for “The Woman King,” a historical action-drama that tells the tale of the Agojie, the all-female army of the Dahomey African Kingdom, who must defeat their biggest enemy yet in the Oyo Empire.

Prince-Bythewood spoke with the Daily Bruin’s Alexis Jones about depicting the historically accurate account of the Agojie and their empowering effect on the women who watch “The Woman King.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Daily Bruin: What about the story of the Agojie compelled you to direct this film?

Gina Prince-Bythewood: The fact that it’s an incredible history that’s been erased or, probably more damaging, it’s been so misrepresented both in books that have been written certainly and Wikipedia. In doing the deep dive into the history of these women and this kingdom, it became so glaringly clear how important it is who’s telling your story. For me then to have the opportunity to right the wrongs that have been done historically in the telling of their story, I took that both as an incredible honor to be able to do that but a responsibility and also a gift because these women are incredible, and the story that we told about them is true. To be able to tell the story of these warrior women, the only female army certainly at that time in the entire world, and their exploits. It was a gift.

DB: What research did this project entail?

GPB: I was really fortunate to meet an incredible academic and historian whose ancestors were with these women and has a team of researchers as well, Leonard Wantchekon. And it was just mind-blowing to listen to him because they have done so much research and so much data, so much truth that so many people don’t know. So to be able to do a deep dive with him and really be able to fill out the humanity of these characters and the kingdom and the story, we could reach out to them about anything. Whether it be what were they eating, how do they honor their dead, what was the true social construct of that day, how did it work with the men and women in the equality on the council, the position of the Woman King – which was a real position, though some people like to think we made that up.

Akin McKenzie, who also teaches at UCLA, our production designer, found amazing research as well and found these two journals written by some missionaries who went to Dahomey at that time. The way that they describe the kingdom and these women was so different than what we had been reading about in some of these books that have been written (by) the people that were trying to colonize the kingdom. Of course, they have a desire to dehumanize these women in the kingdom. That was a game-changer.

DB: Although this is a historical drama, there are several plot points and storylines that touch on themes relevant today. Which themes did you specifically want to highlight, and how did you approach bringing those to life?

GPB: What I loved so much about the film when I first read the script is that it’s a historical epic, and that’s a genre I love so much. But my guttural connection to it was this incredible mother-daughter story at the heart of it, and I loved the sisterhood and all the different love stories within the film.

For me, it was a way to tell the story in a way that was intimately epic, and knowing that the character moments and the quiet moments were as seismic as the big set pieces and knowing we have to care about these characters deeply (and) to care when we hit the battles. And so, I love that part of it and finding that balance between all these different aspects within it. When I pitched my take to Sony (Pictures Entertainment), it was a historical epic action-drama, and all those elements are going to be supremely important within the storytelling.

DB: How did you utilize your background running track at UCLA to depict the realism of the fight scenes?

GPB: One of the most important things I did want to put out into the world thematically is absolutely that women have this innate warrior within them, and I wanted women to be able to look up on the screen and be inspired by that. It’s tied to me growing up an athlete and certainly running track at UCLA.

Me being an athlete, I knew what it would take. I’m hypersensitive to women in action. It needs to look good, and it can’t just look good for a woman. I needed my actors literally to become athletes because I wanted them to do their own fighting and their own stunts because that makes better action. I wanted an audience to marvel at the athleticism of these warriors because that’s what they were. They were incredible athletes. They trained 24/7, and so I needed my actors essentially to do the same, and so everything I knew about athletics and competition and how you feel before a fight, I can impart all of that to them, and I just found that really invaluable.

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DB: What do you hope audiences take away from the film?

GPB: I certainly want people to leave with that great feeling when you’ve seen a really good film that moves you. For me as an audience, I want to be moved. As a filmmaker, I want to move an audience. I think that’s the most important thing, “Did it make you feel were you able to connect with these women, connect with people that didn’t look like you?” But it doesn’t matter because you can see yourself in them, you can root for them, you can cry for them, you can laugh at them. That’s certainly something as a filmmaker, and (as) a Black filmmaker, I really pushed forth for my career to be able to create characters that everybody can respond to. I want people to be inspired, absolutely, and certainly, women to be inspired by what they’ve seen and what they see we’re capable of.