For Viola Davis, seeing her first images of a "badass Black woman on television” when she was growing up inspired 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,” directed by Mexican director Patricia Riggen, arrives on Amazon Prime Video AMZN.O on Thursday. It follows Davis’ character of 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, Davis and Anderson admitted that their biggest bonding experiences were collecting free items at gift suites.
"I didn’t want to mention that. We like the free stuff,” said Davis, triggering a fit of laughter from both actors.
Another aspect of the movie that amused Davis was thinking about how her younger self would be ecstatic to see her play Danielle.
"That 6-year-old Viola has been serving me. My job is to make her squeal. My job is to excite her about who she will become,” Viola said.
Davis is known for her EGOT status, which stands for a winner of the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards. It is one of the highest honors for a performer in Hollywood.
