“Worst two hours of my life” Will Smith on having to wait for Venus and Serena’s reactions on King Richard
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Famed Hollywood actor Will Smith plays Richard Williams, father and ex-coach of Serena and Venus Williams in the upcoming movie King Richard. The film covers the journey of the Williams sisters when they were young, under the watchful guidance of their father. Richard Williams introduced his daughters to tennis at the age of four, and groomed them both to be world no. 1, multiple grand slam winners, and Olympic champions.
Will Smith recently appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s talk show to promote the movie, which poignantly brings out the struggle of two black girls who went on to conquer a mostly white-dominated sport. The sister pair have won 30 grand slam singles titles (Serena: 23 Venus:7) 14 doubles titles (paired together, unbeaten in finals), and 4 mixed doubles titles (2 each).
“It is terrifying” Will Smith on the prospect of playing a living person
Speaking to Fallon, Smith shared the anxiety that he faced while playing a living person, how he was consumed with the thought of whether he did justice to the role and if the person would like the end product or not. “It is terrifying when you play a real person that is still alive, and you know that they’re going to see it. It was beautiful. Venus and Serena were really excited about the possibility, and they said that they would potentially be executive producers and they were going to walk us through the whole process, but they were going to withhold whether or not they put their names on the film until they saw it” he said.
“You hope to God that they like it” Will Smith on waiting for 2 hours for the Williams Sisters’ reactions
Smith talked about how he had to spend two nerve-wracking hours until he could know what Serena and Venus thought about the biopic: “So then I get the call that Venus and Serena are walking into the theater to see the film, and it’s the worst two hours ever. It’s the worst two hours, because you spend so much time creating these things, and there’s literally only one audience when you do (a film based on a living person).
I did it with Muhammad Ali, and then with The Pursuit of Happyness, and Concussion, with people that were all alive. It’s the only audience, and you hope to God—you’ve spent a year to tell this story—and you hope that they like it. Venus and Serena cried all the way through; they loved it”.
Richard Williams was a loving, caring, and doting father: Will Smith
While conversing with Fallon, Will Smith shared a nickname that Venus has for her father’s trick to get them to play tennis, and how contrary to the public image of an overbearing person, he was actually a very loving father. What was really interesting to me is that we have this picture of Richard Williams and it’s the classic overbearing father, hammering his children. But in sitting with Venus and Serena, and their sisters and their mother, it was completely the opposite. He was a loving, caring, doting father.
Venus referred to it as the Jedi mind trick, that he had somehow made it so that they would have to ask him, ‘Please daddy, can we play tennis?’. Their punishment would be that they couldn’t play tennis when they got in trouble. He aligned with what they wanted for themselves more than demanding what he wanted for them. It was a beautiful family story” Smith said.
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Aradhana Nayak
(189 Articles Published)