Don’t miss the new movie about Venus and Serena’s father!

Film Fest 919 concluded its fourth annual run in Chapel Hill Sunday, and the festival drew big crowds over the weekend, smartly scheduled while the football team was idle.

The lineup of first-run feature films was again amazing and will surely grow the unprecedented number of Academy Awards it has produced from 26 over the first three years. But the true showstopper was King Richard, the story of how Venus and Serena Williams were raised and trained by their loving but authoritarian father.

Will Smith played King Richard, and only minutes into the movie the actor disappeared into his character. A hustler who grew up in tough, violent neighborhoods, he fixated on the challenge of turning his two youngest daughters into the first African-American stars of the whites-only tennis profession.

He drove them, plus three older daughters who did not play tennis, relentlessly in their schoolwork and carefully monitored social life. He shielded his family from the gangs of Compton, California, even when he had to take the playground beatings himself.

The role is being hailed as Smith’s greatest in an already-illustrious career. He earns the reputation of being an overbearing guardian who played the race card when necessary and kept Venus and Serena out of junior tennis for more than the three years prior to their paths to becoming multiple grand slam champions.

Smith’s King Richard had to be somewhat theatrical, clashing with everyone from his level-headed wife, to coaches he hired, to professional agents whom he held off because he believed Venus, then Serena, would command more money when their time came.

On the eve of turning pro at 14, Venus turned down a $3-million endorsement offer because she was taught to believe she could beat anyone. Even though she lost her first pro match, her white-braided hair and stunning game launched her following for millions of girls

Clearly, it is the tennis version of the Tiger and Earl Woods story, but controversy-free lives led by Venus and Serena, who followed her sister and became the greatest woman player of all time, proved that King Richard knew exactly what he was doing. Bravo to them all.

(featured image: AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, file)


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