The film premiered at the Telluride film festival in September and has received positive reviews for its storytelling and Smith’s performance. She added: “It took some time to get there with my family because there’s a little bit of distrust, as you can imagine, being in the public eye for as long as they have.” She says they wanted to make sure that the “story was told right, it was fair and it was honest, and it really displayed the integrity that we’ve always tried to have as a family”. Price says that she initially brought the script to her sisters and the rest of their family, and that it took some time for them to build sufficient trust in the project.
They are both executive producers of King Richard alongside their older sister Isha Price, who played a more active role in the film’s production and was a regular presence on the set during filming. Venus and Serena Williams, who are played by Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton respectively, have gone on to become two of the greatest tennis players of all time, with Serena Williams winning 23 major singles titles, the open era record among both male and female players, while Venus Williams won seven grand slam titles in singles. I knew I wanted to show a father protecting a daughter like that to the world.” When the opportunity to be a part of this came up, that was the first thing that I remembered. “I fell in love with Richard Williams 20-something years ago. “That interview really changed my parenting at that time. Smith cites a famous interview involving a teenage Venus Williams, during which Richard Williams interrupts and criticises a journalist for questioning his daughter’s confidence, as inspiration for his decision to take the role: “I saw that in real time and the look on Venus’ face – the image burned in my heart because that’s how I wanted my daughter to look when I showed up,” Smith said in a press conference on Sunday. Will Smith stars as Richard Williams, the sisters’ father, in a film depicting how he guided his two daughters from the public courts of Compton, California, to becoming two of the most accomplished tennis players in the history of the sport. Now, with the release of King Richard on 19 November, it will be.
The story of Venus and Serena Williams’ rise to greatness, two legendary tennis careers propelled by the foresight of their father, has often been likened to a Hollywood movie.