One of Regina King’s dreams is finally happening. The 50-year-old director and actress will play Shirley Chisholm in an upcoming feature film titled Shirley.
King will produce the film with Reina King, her sister. They will be under Royal Ties Productions.
The film will be written and directed by Academy Award winner John Ridley, famous for 12 Years a Slave. The executive producers will be Anikah McLaren and Jeff Skoll.
Participant, a media company dedicated to making inspirational movies to convince them to partake in positive social action, will produce the film.
King has been trying to get the movie made since 2012. It took her nearly a decade to finally get the greenlight. Production of the film will start later this year.
Shirley Chisholm’s fearlessness has inspired countless people, including King. With this film, King hopes to inspire many more generations.
Ridley, 55, has felt King’s passion for bringing a true portrayal of Chisholm since the day the two met. He is thankful to both King and her sister for trusting him enough to partner with him to tell the story of this remarkable woman.
If you’re not sure who Shirley Chisholm is, she was an American politician and became the nation’s first Black woman to be elected to Congress.
She represented New York’s congressional district from 1969 to 1983, when she retired from Congress. In 1972, she also became the first woman to run for a presidential nomination in the Democratic Party.
In 1993, Chisholm was nominated for an ambassadorship. However, she had to withdraw because of health issues.
And in 2015, she posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the stellar work she did in her lifetime.
Chisholm was a remarkable woman and a pace-setter in US politics for minorities.
This will not be the first time for Chisholm to be portrayed on screen. The 2020 limited series, Mrs. America, was based on her life.
Actress Uzo Aduba portrayed her so well that she won Best Supporting Actress in a Movie or Limited Series at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards.
In Aduba’s acceptance speech, she thanked Chisholm for working for everyone people who had been marginalized or even forgotten.
She called Chisholm a trailblazer, and she was touched to help bring her story to light.
King’s adaptation will give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at Chisholm’s life and her 1972 run for president as a democrat, which was unheard of in those days.
With award-winner Regina King starring and producing, this is a passion project that promises to be one of the best movies of its time when it comes out.
Hopefully, it will convince even more Black women that they can achieve great things if they set their mind to it.
