STACK #210 Apr 2022

MOVIE FEATURE

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THE COACH IS KING

King Richard serves up a heart-warming biopic on the father and coach of tennis legends Venus and SerenaWilliams, withWill Smith’s ace performance a winner with the sisters. Words Gill Pringle V enus Williams tears up as she begins to talk about how much King Richard means to her and sister Serena.

Demi and Sanaya really acted like Serena and I – even when the cameras weren’t rolling, like holding hands… it was so sweet. And I’m just really proud of what everyone has accomplished. It’s pretty surreal to be honest. They really understood our family and portrayed us in a way that was really us, and I’m very proud of that,” she says. Serena agrees: “Honestly, no word describes it better than surreal. Just to see these incredible actresses and everyone behind it, just putting this all together. And then to have Will play our father, and the way he just embodied Richard Williams. It just took the whole film to a whole new level and it’s a brilliant piece of work.” King Richard recreates a famous TV interview with a then 15-year-old Venus, where Richard Williams snapped at the reporter for being discouraging. Smith recalls how he actually saw the interview back in the day. “That was twenty-something years ago, and I fell in

“I think it’s super-emotional. Every time I watch it, my eyes are just watering,” she tells STACK of this inspirational drama, covering the early years of the Williams sisters and how their father, Richard, coached them to become the No.1 and No.2 seeded players in the world. Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green ( Monsters and Men ), the film outlines how, in a brazen 78-page plan, Richard Williams was determined to write his daughters into tennis history. For the film’s star and producer, Will Smith, the story of King Richard is a story of the impossible dream. “For the most part, we all have impossible dreams. We have things that we would do if we felt that they

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were possible, things we would do if we believed,” he says. “The story of Richard and this family is largely the American Dream – there are very few places on Earth where Venus and Serena could happen. “At the core, this is about wanting to be the best versions of ourselves and sometimes, our circumstances may not

love with Richard Williams. So when the opportunity to be a part of this came up, that was the first thing I remembered. I knew I wanted to show a father protecting a daughter like that to the world,” he says. Isha Price, one of Serena and Venus’s three older sisters and a co-producer on the film, adds, “It was definitely a journey of wanting to tell the story of

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line up with that, and it’s up to the strength of the human spirit to overpower circumstances. It’s wish fulfilment for all of us,” he adds. Co-starring Aunjanue Ellis ( If Beale Street Could Talk ) as the girls’ mother, Oracene “Brandy” Williams; Saniyya Sidney ( Hidden Figures ) as Venus; Demi Singleton as Serena and Jon Bernthal ( The Walking Dead ) as coach Rick Macci, it’s a beautiful ensemble cast who functioned very much as a family on set, according to Venus. “It was amazing to see … and how much

my dad… just getting people to understand who he was as a father and what he wanted to do, and how the family came together to be able to do that. “But it was important for me because I had a responsibility to my family. It wasn’t a singular thing. Everyone had a hand in wanting to get this story right and tell this real hero story of my dad and what he was able to do. But also understand the foundation that my mom actually was able to play, and make sure that the heart of the family was there.”

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN Washed up ballplayer Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) is recruited to coach the All-American Girls Baseball League of 1943, and initially treats the job as a joke before being won over by the indomitable spirit of his players.

• King Richard is out on Apr 6

14 APRIL 2022

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