Source: Jim Spellman / Getty
could be this close to signing up for one of his biggest roles yet!
According to Deadline, the 50-year-old actor is poised to play
Richard Williams, the father of
Venus and
Serena Williams, in the upcoming film
King Richard.
Based on 2018 The Black List runner up script by Zach Baylin,
King Richard centers on the real-life father who with no tennis background coached his girls into becoming tennis icons, with his youngest
Serena winning 23 Grand Slam titles.
As Deadline noted, “when his daughters were around the age of four, Richard Williams drew up a 78-page plan for their professional tennis careers. He began giving them tennis lessons and the girls learned the game on cracked, weedy public courts in Compton, reportedly after their father brawled with young toughs who were not fans of the sport and would not make way.”
It’s unclear when the film will go into production, but what we do know is that Tim White and Trevor White will produce the film under Star Thrower Entertainment, alongside Smith and his Overbrook Entertainment banner, Deadline wrote.
Granted, there are plenty of people excited to see Will take on such a misunderstood and powerful character, but it is hard to ignore the questions and concerns folks about this casting, especially around Will and Richard’s contrasting skin tones.
Here’s what some of Black Twitter had to say:
