courtesy: rotten tomatoes
Regina King’s first film in three years, ‘Shirley’ based on the first Black woman elected Congress Shirley Chisholm has been creating buzz.
The biopic with Regina as Shirley is written and directed by John Ridley, and has been dropped on Netflix on March 22, and has remained trending on the Top 10 list since.
King, in an interview with Netflix, said that she and her sister Regina first decided to tell Shirley’s story when they realized how many people are not aware of who Shirley was – and these were people that they had assumed would have the knowledge of who she is.
“After so many times of having that experience, we thought, ‘Wait a minute, this is not right. When you hear even the last name Chisholm, you should think Shirley,” said Regina.
While Regina will play the role of Shirley, the first Black woman to be elected Congress and who fought for her constituents despite of facing racism and sexism. She has also been an inspiration to today’s politicians, a few of whom are featured in the film, Michael Cherrie will play Conrad Chisholm, who was supportive of her but also increasingly strained. They were married from 1949 to 1977, as per History.
Terrence Howard will be portraying the role of Arthur Hardwick Jr., who married Shirley post her divorce from Conrad. He was a state legislator, as per New York Times.
Christina Jackson will play the role of Barbara Lee, who worked on her presidential campaign and was herself elected to Congress in 1988. She is currently serving as California’s 12th congressional district.
