King Will

by Gill Pringle

In King Richard, the two-time Oscar-nominee takes on one of the most misunderstood men in sports history.

Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monsters and Men), this heart-warming biopic outlines how, in a brazen 78-page plan, Richard Williams is determined to write his daughters, Venus and Serena, into history.

Training on California’s neglected tennis courts in Compton, the girls – Saniyya Sidney (Hidden Figures, Fences) starring as Venus, and Demi Singleton (TV’s Godfather of Harlem) as Serena – are shaped by their father’s unyielding commitment and their mother’s balanced perspective and keen intuition. As a family, they defy the seemingly insurmountable odds and prevail expectations.

Based on an inspiring true story, King Richard follows the uplifting journey of a family whose unwavering resolve and unconditional belief ultimately delivers two of the world’s greatest sports legends.

Talking to FilmInk, Smith discusses why he was drawn to this story, also revealing his disappointment over the fact that the man himself, Richard Williams, has yet to see the film.

This is not the first time you’ve played a father on screen but Richard Williams is a whole different kind of father. How did you compare this to your own experiences of fatherhood; the similarities and the differences? How did you make that calculus, looking at Richard’s parenting style and comparing it to your own journey through fatherhood?

“One of the first things that was interesting was, in our first meeting, we sat down, and Venus said, ‘You know it’s almost like they brainwashed us. It was like, our punishment was that we couldn’t play tennis. So they never had to push’. It was like there was a Jedi mind trick that wasn’t the standard thing you see, of a parent pushing and driving a child. There was that. But it was augmenting and throwing fuel on a fire that they had. It was a fire coming from inside of Venus and Serena. And, for me as an actor, when I take a role, also, I’m taking it to explore something. I’m taking it to learn something. And that was a new parenting idea for me of aligning with your children versus directing your children. It was a very, very different concept and approach that was magical in the Williams family. The rules were set. But the rules that were established were divine rule. Faith was at the centre. And then there was a collective journey we were going on. It wasn’t that as a parent, ‘I know and you don’t, so you’re going to do what I say, cause I’m right and you’re little’. It was a very different approach that was somewhat eye-opening for me. My father was military. So, it was very different when I was growing up, the kids don’t get a vote. You do what’s laid out for you to do; what’s established for you. There are some benefits to that mindset also. But this was a very different thing.”

What interested you in not only playing Richard Williams but also coming on board as a producer?

“When I first read that screenplay – and I can always tell within the first 10 or 15 pages – if I look up and I’m staring in the mirror, seeing if I can perform the lines… So, if I get lost in the screenplay, and end up putting it down and going to the mirror, if I do that in the first 15 pages, then I can tell that it’s something beautiful that I want to do. It probably took me about five days to get through the screenplay. There was something in my heart that was so clear about Richard Williams. As an actor, sometimes characters are opaque, and you just can’t connect, and you keep drilling and then hopefully one day it breaks and you get it. But, every once in a while, you’re just on fire and can’t wait to be on set with this character. My comprehension of that post World War II Black man in America… My father was the same; that pull themself up by the bootstraps, and the same trauma, and a lot of the same kind of perspective about hard work and family, so I understood a little bit from that side. And then being a daughter dad, I am related a little bit to that with Willow. So, when I read it, I was on fire, I was ready to be on set. I thought it was one of the most beautiful screenplays that I had ever read.”

What impressed you most about the Williams family?

“What the Williams family was able to do was so absolutely amazing; we can’t really feel the magnitude of it. It’s just so gigantic to say that you are going to raise the number one and number two tennis players of all time. To say you’re gonna raise number one and number two, before they’re even born, and then set out to do it and face the obstacles and challenges, and then be able to jump up and down, holding a sign that says, ‘I told you so’. The arc of that story is so utterly impossible, and we may never see anything like that happen again. It was spectacular for me to be able to be a part of bringing that story to the world. It was one of the greatest honors of my entire career.”

How much of the technicalities of the sport play a role in your performance?

“I think that, as much as you can become proficient in the thing that you are doing, you just want to get to the point where are you do not have to think about it. [Director] Reinaldo [Marcus Green] took really good care of putting the camera in the right place and doing all of those things. When you’re doing technical things like that, you want to be good enough where you don’t have to think about it, because you can tell if you’re thinking about it. When I did Ali, for example, I got really good, so you feel like you wanna fight. So, when you get really good, you wanna do it for real, and the camera loves it. And the camera can tell that you have trained in it. But I have also had a couple of experiences where you fall just short of proficiency, enough to not have to think about it, and you can be mechanical and get stuck in your head. So, for me, I didn’t really have to learn tennis for the film – Richard was self-taught, so he didn’t really do things the way that world class professionals would do them or teach them. But the proficiency to the level where you can forget about it, is really important to the camera.”

Do you know if Richard Williams has seen the film yet?

“I spoke to Serena a couple of weeks ago and I was like, ‘Come on you’ve gotta tell me?!’ And she says, ‘Daddy says he hasn’t seen it yet’, but you never know, he might have seen it, and not said anything yet. But Venus and Serena and the rest of the family love the movie, so I hope that when he sees it, he feels that I did him a service. I have so much love for that man and for this family. But that is classic Richard Williams, so I don’t know! ‘What do I need to see that movie for? I was right there when it happened!’”