The Old Guard - Charlize Theron and Kiki Layne.jpg

Coming out on July 10 on Netflix is Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s action fantasy film adaptation of The Old Guard. Oscar winner Charlize Theron stars as Andromache of Scythia, the leader of a small group of immortal soldiers. Some of the main cast include KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Luca Marinelli, and Marwan Kenzari.

Other cast members include Chiwetel Ejiofor, Harry Melling and Veronica Ngo.

Led by a warrior named Andy (Charlize Theron), a covert group of tight-knit mercenaries with a mysterious inability to die have fought to protect the mortal world for centuries. But when the team is recruited to take on an emergency mission and their extraordinary abilities are suddenly exposed, it’s up to Andy and Nile (Kiki Layne), the newest soldier to join their ranks, to help the group eliminate the threat of those who seek to replicate and monetize their power by any means necessary.

The Old Guard” is the nickname for the oldest active-duty regiment in the U.S. Army, but the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment has nothing on the team of immortal soldiers at the center of The Old Guard. The group’s leader, Andy (short for Andronika the Scythian), has been alive since ancient Greece; described as very, very old — 5,000 years old and an Amazon from the Herodotus age.

Theron plays Andy, a 5,000-year-old Amazon from the Herodotus age of ancient Greece, who leads the warriors. They include latest recruit Nile, a U.S. Marine, played by KiKi Layne — who broke through in Oscar-winner Barry Jenkins’ film If Beale Street Could Talk.

BlackFilmandTV.com spoke exclusively with Theron and Layne about doing this action and working with Gina Prince-Bythewood.

Charlize, you’re no stranger to doing action films. Do you do your own stunts? Is the choreography to the fight scenes different from the other films you’ve done?

Charlize Theron: Yes, I do my own stunts because I think the concept of action films have really changed, especially in the last decade. There's a clear understanding that the fights in a lot of this genre of filmmaking is really to enhance narrative. If the actor can't really be a part of that, then it feels a little disconnected. And so when you start a movie like this, you're really trying to understand the strength of the actors that you have. Then you build on that so that when, when you're shooting this film, the actors can actually do what the narrative of the story is. We've reversed it and the last couple of decades, where we're not trying to fit a circle into a square anymore. We're not forcing actors to fit into action we're really having the action work for the actors in the storytelling.

KiKi, when you read the script and saw how much you have to do physically, what were your initial thoughts?

KiKi Layne: It's all about the preparation and the training. It was extremely physically demanding, but I had to be 100% committed to it because it is an extension of my character and so I had go hard as possible.

The Old Guard KiKi Layne Gina Prince-Bythewood and Charlize Theron.jpg

What’s your takeaway from Gina's direction that you can bring on your next project?

KiKi Layne: For me, it's the commitment to the hearts and the core of these characters. Even when I first met Gina at the director session, just talking about, and how she saw this film being created, it was very important to her that the hearts of these characters didn't get lost in all of the action and in this very large film. That's something I can take with me. Regardless of how big the film is, I don't have to lose that commitment to the hearts and the depth of these characters.

Charlize Theron: I feel like every time I work with a woman, the thing I take away is we need more. I look back on my career and it's embarrassing that out of the 16 plus filmmakers that I've worked with, I can count the women on one hand that I've worked with and every time I work with a woman I'm reminded by how much further we have to go; and really making sure that we create more opportunities for women.