English cinematographer Polly Morgan is full of praise for Gina Blythewood-Prince, the director of her latest film, The Woman King.

“The most incredible thing about working with Gina is that she brings people together in a way that I have never seen,” Morgan tells HFPA member Margaret Gardiner in the newest episode of the “Golden Globes Around the World” podcast series. “Not only did she bring the actors together, so they felt like a family when they were making this movie…but it wasn’t just performance on the screen. They literally were there for each other and she also did that with the crew.

“Her opinion was that if it happened to take place in front of the lens, then it was also something that I could collaborate with her on, so she would bring me to design meetings, costume meetings, stunt meetings, and dance rehearsals and it really helped take my work to a different level,” adds the gifted director of photography, who earned an MFA from the American Film Institute and became the only female member of both the British Society of Cinematographers and the American Society of Cinematographers.

Inspired by a true story set in 1823, The Woman King stars Viola Davis as General Nanisca, the leader of an army of women warriors protecting the African Kingdom of Dahomey from slave traffickers and other warring neighbors.

Morgan, who shot A Quiet Place: Part II and Where the Crawdads Sing in the past two years, also spoke to us about working with Viola Davis, her obsession with light, and filming in South Africa during a pandemic.