It's clear that Will Smith was in the right place in his life as a man and an artist to take on the role of Richard Williams — and audiences are going to reap the benefits, Kathia Woods writes for NBCNewsTHINK.
— should not go unnoticed. But what should also not be ignored is the powerful way in which Smith’s and Richard Williams’ lives mirror each other.“King Richard,” which tells the story of Williams and how he catapulted his daughters Venus and Serena Williams to tennis stardom, opens in U.S. movie theaters and HBO Max on Friday. The film depicts how the patriarch devised a strategy to help his then-youngest two children thrive in a sport where few Black women had previously succeeded.
— but he can relate to him on several levels. Smith, like Williams, took a chance and achieved global success in an industry that hasn’t always been welcoming to Black men or women.. “He’s very similar to my father in some ways. I understood what it meant to feel brutalized by the world and to have a dream that nobody believes in but you, and you’re not going to let that deter you. I got the heart of him.
The significance of both of these releases at a time when the experiences of Black Americans are being trivialized should not go unnoticed. Williams witnessed firsthand how America treated Black people and was determined to keep his daughters from becoming statistics. But at times that desperation clouded his judgement. As you watch “King Richard” and read “Will,” you witness how both men were blessed with partners who would challenge them on this particular blind spot.
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