In Hulu’s The Princess, a medieval action film that upends the fantasy genre in bloody ways, Joey King makes a case for transitioning from rom-com staple to action superstar. Murphy’s Multiverse got to attend the film’s press conference, in which King shared how she prepped for the role.
On what lessons she picked up during training, she said:
I think the thing that was so helpful about the training process too, you can’t just go in there and be like, “Oh, I trained for two weeks and I’m so good at this.” It’s more than just getting your form. It’s also about… you get hurt while you’re training, and the training process helps you to not be head shy anymore when you get hurt, to go into the next take. ou just have to go full throttle. And that’s where the training really comes in handy. It’s like, you’re learning these movements and you’re learning how to respect these movements, but you’re also learning how to not be scared, you know?
Sharing the screen with King is Veronica Ngo, best known for her work on action films such as The Old Guard. Ngo, who plays Linh, a mentor to the titular Princess, dishes a lot of kicks and punches in the film. King revealed in the conference what it was like to work with an action-staple such as Ngo.
It is such an honor, because Veronica is obviously extremely experienced in the action world, and she is just an unbelievable fighter. I mean, I knew I had so much to learn from her. She is so clean with her fighting. She is so admirable. It’s a beautiful dance to watch her fight. I really knew that I had so much to learn, and I still have so much to learn.
Lastly, it was thanks to the team’s encouragement that allowed King to go outside of her comfort zone and perform beyond everyone’s expectations.
I think that it’s worth saying though that the only reason I felt like I could do these things is because Kiet and Veronica and the entire stunt team as well, they all lifted me up so much. No one made me feel like I couldn’t do anything.
