The trailer for Hulu’s upcoming action-fantasy picture, The Princess, starts off with a princess as a prisoner and quickly shifts into a tale of a princess that takes no prisoners. The Le-Van Kiet-directed film seems like it’s going to turn the worn-out “damsel in distress” narrative completely inside out, and star Joey King says she’s here for it.
The 22-year-old King, best known for playing kid-lit icon Ramona Quimby, may not be the first actor to come to mind for a part that’s more about kicking asses than kissing princes, but The Kissing Booth may be on the verge of breaking out of her wheelhouse.
“Joey consistently impressed me dramatically,” director Kiet stated at today’s Hulu press conference, “But also physically, and that made this a real joy. We had so much fun. She did it all. We planned for her not to do it all, but she made it happen. Every day she came to work, and she said, ‘I want to do this.’, and she was better than the stunt person.”
Speaking at the same conference, King noted that it wasn’t confidence that brought her to the film. It was fear. Not just of getting out of her comfort zone but also of a script that was well over 90 percent action scenes.
“What made me want to do this movie was that it scared the living hell out of me. The initial script had 95 pages and about 92 of it was fighting. And I thought, OMG, can I do this?….I’ve never really done an action movie before where I’m really in the nitty gritty of the action, and I thought, ‘It’s about time for me!’ “I really did fall in love with martial arts and learning how to fight in the training for this movie. I felt like I unlocked a new confidence in myself that I didn’t know I had. I didn’t know if I could pull this off, but then I did, and that made me feel really empowered.”
– Joey King
She seems to have leaned in. Not only will King be fighting her way through The Princess next month, but audiences can catch her slugging it out with the likes of Brad Pitt in John Wick director’s new high-octane action movie Bullet Train in August.
The Princess will debut on Hulu on July 1.
