A first look at Regina King’s turn as Shirley Chisholm is finally here. Netflix just dropped the trailer for “Shirley,” the upcoming biopic based on the life of the first Black congresswoman.
“I have something to tell you,” Chisholm proudly declares to her congressional intern Robert Gottlieb (Lucas Hedges) at the trailer’s start. “I am running for president.” The trailer whisks us back to 1972, during Chisholm’s trailblazing presidential campaign. “I am paving the road for a lot of other people looking like me to get elected,” she says in the clip.
Written and directed by John Ridley, the film boasts a star-studded supporting cast around King. In addition to Hedges, Lance Reddick, Christina Jackson, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Terrence Howard all fill out the ensemble of the film, which by the looks of the trailer, does not shy away from the various challenges Chisholm faced as the first on her political journey.
“I don’t think I’m special,” King as Chisholm emotionally states toward the end of the clip. “I just want to remind people what’s possible.”
As Netflix describes in the press release, the film, “celebrates Chisholm’s legacy as a staunch advocate for equal rights and an inspiration to a generation that is now in a place of power to enact change.” Producers of the film include King and her sister Reina King, Ridley, Anikah McLaren and Elizabeth Haggard. Jeff Skoll and Ted Gidlow join as executive producers.
The film was first announced in 2021, as theGrio previously reported. King shared in a statement at the time, “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.”
“Shirley” hits Netflix globally on Friday, March 22.
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