Anika Noni Rose is attached to produce and star in a film based on Shirley Chisholm, Shadow and Act has reported. Chisholm was the first African-American woman elected to the United States Congress, and the first woman ever to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
Tony winner Rose will play the titular character, who, according to the film's description, “embodies the keen sense of justice and community, embracing her fold like a warrior. Always meticulously dressed, pearls in place, watched adjusted to the second, Congresswoman Chisholm metamorphosed to do America’s business. With a colorful team of cohorts by her side, Congresswoman Chisholm personifies the bold educated Brooklynite with her roots firmly planted in her Caribbean heritage, hurdling humongous odds in a system structured for whites and males only.”
Shadow and Act received confirmation of the project from producer Barbara Ballard not long after pointing out that a 2010 biopic starring Viola Davis had never moved forward. As S&H writes, “That was a long six years ago — before ‘The Help,’ before ‘How to Get Away With Murder,’ certainly before the upcoming ‘Suicide Squad,’ and every other high profile project Davis has appeared in since then.” But “The timing is about as perfect as it’s ever been, with Clinton’s historic presumptive win, and as the push for diversity in Hollywood — both in front of and behind the camera — continues to gain momentum.”
Rose co-starred in “Dreamgirls” and voiced Disney’s first black princess in “The Princess and the Frog.” She most recently appeared in the rebooted mini-series “Roots.”
