By Danielle Broadway
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – For Viola Davis, seeing her first images of a “badass Black woman on television” when she was growing up became an inspiration for her role as the U.S. president in the thriller film “G20.”
The 1974 American crime drama series “Get Christie Love!” starring Teresa Graves as an undercover detective immediately captivated Davis.
“Whenever she would arrest someone, she was like ‘You’re under arrest, baby!,’ and I was like ‘Oh my God! Oh my goodness!’ and she would throw men off balconies,” Davis told Reuters.
“When you see it, you can believe it. When you see it, you can see yourself in it and there’s something about being seen that forces you to see yourself,” she added.
“G20,” which arrives on Amazon Prime Video on Thursday, is directed by Mexican director Patricia Riggen and follows Davis’ character U.S. President Danielle Sutton, who protects her family and other world leaders when a G20 summit in Cape Town, South Africa is infiltrated by terrorists.
The movie also stars Anthony Anderson as Danielle’s husband and first gentleman Derek Sutton, “black-ish” actor Marsai Martin as their daughter Serena Sutton, and Christopher Farrar as their son Demetrius Sutton.
Davis specifically requested Anderson to play her movie husband because of their close bond.
“We’ve always had a great relationship, just in the same network, traveling in the same circles, having the same friends,” Anderson said.
However, both Davis and Anderson admitted that their biggest bonding experiences came from collecting free items together at gifting suites.
“I didn’t want to mention that. We like the free stuff,” said Davis, triggering a fit of laughter from both of the actors.
Another thing about the movie that amused Davis was thinking about how her younger self would be ecstatic to see her playing the role of Danielle.
“That 6-year-old Viola has been serving me. My job is to make her squeal. My job is to make her really excited about who she’s going to become,” Viola said.
Davis is known for her EGOT status, which stands for a winner of the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards, and is one of the highest honors for a performer in Hollywood.
(Reporting by Danielle Broadway and Rollo Ross; Editing by Mary Milliken and Jamie Freed)
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