Regina King is on a hot streak that shows no signs of slowing down. Having recently starred in HBO’s Watchmen, and directed likely Oscar contender One Night In Miami, the multi-faceted star has signed on to play the lead in the upcoming Shirley Chrisholm biopic.
Chrisholm was America’s first Black congresswoman, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972. This is just the latest project revolving around her, as Uzo Aduba portrayed her in recent FX series Mrs. America, while Danai Gurira signed on to play her in a non-biopic look at her presidential campaign late last year.
This film will simply be titled Shirley, and will be written and directed by John Ridley, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of 12 Years A Slave.
Shirley will be based on Chisholm’s life story rights, acquired through an exclusive agreement with the Chisholm Estate. King will also serve as an executive producer alongside Reina King under their Royal Ties Productions banner.
The biopic will reportedly offer “an intimate, behind-the-scenes portrait of one of the most ground-breaking political leaders of our time during a seminal period in modern American history”. King said in a statement:
“Shirley Chisholm‘s fearless determination has been an inspiration to so many of us, and with this film we hope to inspire many generations to come. To collaborate once again with my friend and mentor, John Ridley, and the team at Participant, makes this decade-long journey even sweeter”.
Ridley added: “Regina’s passion for bringing a complete and very human portrait of Shirley to life has been evident since literally the day we first met. I’m very thankful to both Regina and Reina trusting me to partner in telling the story of this truly remarkable individual”.
This should be a great opportunity to explore an underrepresented but important figure in American history. With King starring and Oscar-winning writer Ridley directing, Shirley will likely be a major player during a future awards season. Production is expected to begin later this year.
#Peace.Love.Shirley
