It was last week at the target Collider Movie Talk who applauded the decision of Will Smith to withdraw from Suicide Squad I go on and advocate for him to return to high-profile dramas, if only to remind everyone what a damn good actor he is when he wants to be. Well, the two-time Oscar nominee will once again have a chance to deflect his dramatic muscles as he now plays with Richard Williams , the father of the greats of tennis Venus Williams and Serena Williams , in the independent film King Richard .
Zach Baylin wrote the one, which has been on Collider’s radar since last October, two months before it even landed on the blacklist of Hollywood’s best unproduced scripts. I’ve long been fascinated by athletic parents, having seen a fair number of soccer players and basketball parents while playing and officiating youth sports, and obviously Richard Williams was there with Earl Woods> as a father who demanded greatness from his gifted offspring and refused to settle for less. His daughters’ success required a lot of love, but Richard ended up raising some of the best tennis players in the history of the game.
Richard trained Venus and Serena for fame and glory from a young age, waking up his daughters early so they could practice on the cracked courts of Compton. They were still teenagers when Serena won the US Open in 1999 and Venus won Wimbledon in 2000. Two decades later, Serena has established herself as the Michael Jordan tennis, with 23 Grand Slam victories, while Venus won seven Grand Slam titles herself.
The big question is: will the Williams sisters participate in this project? At the moment, they are not on the production team, which includes Smith and his banner Overbrook Entertainment, as well as Star Thrower Entertainment directors Tim White and Trevor White. Allan Mandelbaum and Caleeb Pinkett will serve as executive producers, while Mary Solomon and Rick Rickertsen will co-produce. It would be great if the Williams sisters joined the project to further bolster their credibility, but it remains to be seen if they will lend their names to King Richard, although Smith might be able to help in that regard. I’m not sure if they read or approve of Baylin’s interpretation of his father and his unorthodox methods.
There is no associate director to King Richard yet, but Smith is expected to have a lot to say in this key creative decision. I knew he was encouraged to see Smith challenge himself one more time as he has been sucked into big budget projects like Suicide Squad and Aladdin doesn’t look much better. But Smith is a two-time Oscar nominee (remember The Pursuit of Happyness and Ali) who can fly when given the right material, so let’s hope he stays with King Richard, because there is so much potential here … at least on paper.
CAA is buying it, so stay tuned to see where it lands. Smith is currently filming Bad Boys For Life with Martin Lawrence , and soon he will be seen in Gemini Man de Lee strong>, which confronts the actor with his young self. Smith also lends his voice to the animated film Spies in Disguise , with Tom Holland .
The news was first reported by Deadline.
“Forget the past, it’s your future!”
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