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Lupita Nyong’o stars alongside Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Bingbing Fan, and Diane Kruger, in The 355 which comes out in theaters on January 7th. The world will meet the group of female agents as they take an action-adventure around the world and shatter stereotypes surrounding women in the world and on screen. The empowering action movie is the first film of its kind, with a cast of internationally renowned actresses that feels real and will have you on the edge of your seat. Nyong’o stars as former MI6 ally and computer expert Khadijah and HOLA! USA had the opportunity to watch the film ahead of its release and talk to the Kenyan-Mexican actress about her favorite thing about Khadija, the movie‘s message, and what she would tell her younger self.
I loved the film, I had chills the whole time. It was amazing just seeing strong women carry this thing. So what was it like reading the script for the first time? Well, I actually signed onto the project before there was a script, a year before there was a script. Jessica Chastain called me and said, ‘have you ever watched an espionage thriller movie with women at the helm?’ and I couldn‘t think of anything. And why is that? You know, and so she’d had this idea to create an international ensemble of women who would come together in this spy, espionage thriller genre and kick ass and save the world. And I thought, wow that‘s a great idea. Count me in. And that’s how I got onto this project.
What is your favorite thing about your character Khadija? My favorite thing about her is also the thing that I‘m most intimidated by, which is her intellect and her ability to understand computer jargon in a way that I never could. That was very hard for me to wrap my head around and also my tongue, it’s like a different language these people speak, and so to do so, and to do it with confidence and to utter those things, like I had always uttered them- it took me about three or four times as long to learn my lines then it usually takes me.
And the fight scenes and choreography are amazing. I can‘t even imagine how many hours that took. So tell me a little bit about that training. Yeah, it was very comprehensive training. The stunt team was very, very, experienced and well-oiled. We really practiced the hell out of those stunts and it was great because, you know, you have to learn stunts, you have to learn kind of like a dance. The more familiar you are with it before you actually need to perform it the better. And you get into the rhythm with the people that you‘re working with. And so our adversaries, we had plenty of time to work with them and I was very appreciative of that because then on the day that we were filming, there’s a lot of other technical things that you have to contend with. And it‘s easier to focus on those things when you feel physically ready for the task at hand, so it was actually quite smooth.
Every film has a message. This one, I think, has so many of them. But what is the main message that you would want viewers to take away from it after they watch the film? The power of unity, I think. These women come from different countries, different intelligence agencies. And for the sake of this one big problem that only they can solve, they put their differences aside and get to it, you know? And I think there‘s a power in that. And the more we’re able to do that in the world, the farther we can go.
So you started your career in Hollywood as a production assistant, and now you‘re one of the most highly acclaimed actresses in the world. What would you tell yourself back then if you could? I would tell myself, ‘your life is so simple right now. Enjoy it.’ And I really did loved being- I wasn‘t a production assistant for long- but I definitely loved doing it because I’d never been in a movie set before. And I remember just thinking, ‘oh my God, pinch me. I’m so lucky.‘ And I feel like I, at every stage of my career, I felt that. And so for every production assistant out there, I’d say enjoy it because it‘s a beautiful thing to be exactly where you are when you’re there.