We’ll spare you the unnecessary shouting about how much we love Regina King — she is, after all, an amazing actress who has had a fascinating career (she was on The Boondocks, for Christ’s sake), whose Oscar win should have come much, much earlier than 2018 — and instead turn our attention to John Ridley, the writer-director who has teamed up with King for Shirley, a biopic about Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm (who, in case you don’t know, was the first Black woman in her position and was also the first to run for president back in ’72).
Talk about a fascinating career arc: Ridley begins as a stand-up, writes for sitcoms while honing his skills, becomes a novelist and comic book writer, transitions back to screenwriting, wins an Oscar for 12 Years a Slave, becomes a TV showrunner, and somehow manages to juggle writing, directing, and producing duties on a number of projects while also penning monthly comics for DC and Marvel. Jesus fucking Christ, dude — save some work for the rest of us!
Anyhow, Netflix dropped a trailer for the film on Presidents’ Day, and we gotta say: This looks pretty solid! It’ll be a great Easter watch with your parents.
Take a look:
Here’s a short synopsis:
“Regina King stars as Shirley Chisholm in ‘Shirley’ –the story of the first Black congresswoman and her trailblazing run for president of the United States. Directed by John Ridley and co-starring Lance Reddick, Lucas Hedges, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Christina Jackson, Dorian Crossmond Missick, and Amirah Vann, with André Holland and Terrence Howard, the film chronicles Chisholm’s audacious, boundary-breaking 1972 presidential campaign.”
Shirley hits Netflix on March 22. To be honest, we’re kind of bummed Netflix isn’t even giving this flick a cursory theatrical release because Chisholm’s story deserves it. Alas, that Rebel Moon money had to come from somewhere, huh?