Regina King is eyeing the White House. The Oscar-winning actress and Best Director hopeful is set to star in “Shirley,” a biopic of Shirley Chisholm. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news.
Written and directed by King’s “American Crime” boss John Ridley, “Shirley” will revisit Chisholm’s historic 1972 presidential campaign. Chisholm was the first Black woman elected to Congress, the first person of color to pursue a major political party’s presidential nomination, and the first woman to seek the Democratic Party’s presidential nom.
“Shirley” is being produced by Participant and is expected to shoot later this year.
“Orange Is the New Black” alumna Uzo Aduba won an Emmy last year for portraying Chisholm in FX’s “Mrs. America.” “Black Panther” star Danai Gurira is signed on to play the trailblazer in Cherien Dabis’ upcoming biopic “The Fighting Shirley Chisholm.”
According to THR, “‘Shirley’ filmmakers have an exclusive agreement with the Chisholm Estate, giving them access to her life story rights.” King and her sister Reina King are among the project’s producers.
“Regina’s passion for bringing a complete and very human portrait of Shirley to life has been evident since literally the day we first met,” said Ridley. “I’m very thankful to both Regina and Reina for trusting me to partner in telling the story of this truly remarkable individual.”
King added, “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.”
Ridley created “American Crime” and served as showrunner on the ABC anthology series. King won two Emmy Awards for her starring roles in the drama. More recently she took home an Emmy for her acting in “Watchmen.”
In 2019 King received an Oscar for “If Beale Street Could Talk.” She’s up for Best Director at the Golden Globes this year for “One Night in Miami,” her feature directorial debut, and is a frontrunner to score an Oscar nod for the historical drama. Set in 1964, the critically acclaimed pic sees Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, being crowned as the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion and celebrating his win alongside Malcolm X, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke.
