LOS ANGELES − We've seen Sofia Boutella battle onscreen before.
Boutella, 41, was unrecognizable as Jaylah in 2016's "Star Trek Beyond" and mummified Princess Ahmanet in 2017's "The Mummy" (in which she famously licked Tom Cruise's face during a fight scene). The Algerian actress and dancer was killed off playing an acrobatic assassin in 2014's "Kingsmen: The Secret Service" and as a French agent in 2017's "Atomic Blonde."
But in "Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire" (streaming Thursday, 10 p.m. ET/7 PT, on Netflix) and franchise follow-up "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver" (April 19 on Netflix), Boutella is the center of Zack Snyder's sci-fi movie universe.
"This is my first leading role − it's exciting and intimidating," Boutella tells USA TODAY during an interview at the Four Seasons Hotel, where the 5-foot-5 actress expressed trepidation about donning Kora's dramatic cloak. "I had to wonder if I'd be swallowed up. It was like, 'How am I going to wear the cape and not let it wear me?' That's an intense responsibility."
Here's how Boutella mastered "Rebel Moon":
After initial auditions, Boutella wrote a letter to Snyder saying she felt an instant connection to the character Kora. As the "Child of Fire" title suggests, a young Kora is taken from her home by the destructive Imperium army and eventually escapes to the farming planet of Veldt.
Boutella's family was forced to flee her native Algeria during the Algerian Civil War when she was 10, moving to France. Different circumstances, but the same emotional tear.
"When you are uprooted at such a young age, especially for political reasons, that sense of belonging to one place disappears," says Boutella. "Kora is an outsider. I have always felt like an outsider, too."
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Boutella has always known how to move. With classical dance training that began at age 5, Boutella learned hip-hop and street dancing in France and performed on the French rhythmic gymnastics national team at 18.
Before her movie break, Boutella danced in Michael Jackson's 2011 "Hollywood Tonight" video and was a backup dancer for Madonna for 10 years including the 2006 Confessions tour. She credits Madonna for opening her mind and enhancing her skills with dance theatrics.
"Madonna not only gave me my first hula hoop but got me a teacher to learn how to use the hula hoop. Double Dutch jump roping, roller skating, I had never even done those things before," says Boutella. "I was getting paid to learn new things that I loved. And learning new skills highly prepared me for this job."
Boutella has stayed tight with Madonna and caught the pop icon's Celebration tour earlier this month in London with her "Rebel Moon" co-star Charlie Hunnam. There wasn't time to hang out.
"Her tour life is too regimented and we were working. But I did push Charlie onstage at one point," says Boutella of Hunnam's Madonna concert cameo. "He loved it, we had a great time."
The actress has performed intricate fight scenes with the best, naturally including "The Mummy" star Cruise. "I learned so much from Tom," says Boutella. "The more I learned, the more I realized how much more I had to learn."
The "Rebel Moon" action is central as Kora sparks a growing Imperium resistance, recruiting warriors such as Nemesis (Bae Doona), General Titus (Djimon Hounsou) and a rogue pilot Kai (Hunnam) to the cause. Snyder says Boutella's stunt and dance background "opened up so many doors for us action-wise" with choreography built into the complicated routines.
Boutella started training with the stunt team weeks before the 153-day "Rebel Moon" shoot. Still, the actress had only two hours of rehearsal to map out the complicated moves for a pivotal barn melee. The quick work included devising Kora's rad in-hand axe twirl (seen in the trailer).
"I did (the move), and it was like, 'That looked cool. Let's use it,' " says Boutella. "When you have precious short time (that's) when my dance skills come into play. I can learn fast, especially under pressure."
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The lead actress did have a stunt double who performed two key tasks: taking a rough tumble ("I do not know how to fall") and falling off a ledge to grab a rope during the battle sequence. ("I couldn't learn it, too technical").
But Snyder says "we rely on Sofia 100%" to anchor the franchise and the stunts in both installments of "Rebel Moon," already filmed. Kora is the "Scargiver" name-checked in the second movie title. There is potential for more movie installments in the future, which haven't been officially greenlit by Netflix.
Kora's fight scenes will be even more intense in a director's cut of "Rebel Moon" planned for a summer release that will add an hour to the first installment's 2-hour and 15-minute runtime.
"It's a rated R version, so it's going to be way more vicious," Boutella says.
Boutella even mastered the cape, befitting a character who is also "the most wanted fugitive in the known universe."
Shooting a scene where Kora steps off Kai's spaceship with purpose, Boutella was inspired watching the slow-motion playbacks on the set monitors. She decided to step up her cape game.
"So the next time we did the scene, I took a turn and I whipped the cape around me, tied it back, and kept walking," says Boutella.
Snyder uses the cinematic cape flourish to end the "Rebel Moon" trailer.
"I realized that is where the cape lives. It was such a cool scene, especially in slow motion," says Boutella, who was no longer daunted. "I realized it couldn't let it be a prop, I needed to give the cape life."
