Will Smith: says goodbye to action and dedicates himself to tennis – Film and TV – Culture

Will Smith she walks with her eyes up in white tight shorts and her two daughters in fiction: Venus and Serena; they all go to a tennis court where others look at them strangely.

“Don’t worry: they don’t usually see people as beautiful as us,” says Smith with a tone of pride, now in the shoes of the father of two of the world’s greatest tennis players, who in turn designed a 78-page plan to push them to achieve a success that was looming impossible.

This is one of the scenes from the movie King Richard: A Winning Family, which tells the fight of Richard Williams for taking his daughters off the streets of Compton, in South Los Angeles, to the main tennis tournaments in the world. This film opens on December 2 in the cinemas of the country.

It is said that Williams decided that he would have two daughters whom he would make into white sports stars, after watching on television how Romanian tennis player Virginia Ruzici received a check for $ 40,000. So he thought that his family was going to grow (he already had Isha, Lyndrea and Tunde) and that his daughters would be famous; although that excited father had no idea of ​​playing tennis. After the birth of Venus, in 1979, and two years later, Serena, he decided to implement a detailed plan to achieve that goal.

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The story caught the attention of a Will Smith who came from adrenaline sweating in action movies like Bad Boys forever or Gemini Man (which was shot in Cartagena).

It had a family drama, a true story of triumph and sport. The star found the perfect context to bet on drama, a genre that has already given him good results with productions such as Looking for happiness, in which he played a businessman who hits rock bottom and looks for a way to get up together with his little son. One of his most beloved films and cried by his fans. However, with Rey Richard there was something very powerful and exciting.

The power of family

“The beauty of this plot and of this family is that at the center of everything is faith. Oracene –Brandy for Richard– (the mother of the protagonists) is the center of the family in terms of faith, and Richard is the driving force behind dreams, a spectacular team. Everything in this family has to do with its purpose. This gave them confidence in what they were doing. Above all was God; then family, education and tennis. I think that was what made his impulse so special, “explained Will Smith in an interview that EL TIEMPO had access to.

Set in the 80s and with a tone of moderate and emotional drama, the film is committed to escaping the portrait of oppression or the lack of opportunities. On your way to reaching your goals, the familia Williams face with dignity the challenges that appear before the adventure they undertake. Smith himself stressed that he did not see this film as the story of a family that must scale walls against adversity.

“I don’t think they ever felt trapped anywhere, because their minds were free. And that was an important part of their faith and their self-confidence. Thus, there was never a feeling of being trapped by anything other than their ability to compromise, work hard, and love each other. That belief system is powerful and productive. I believe that a will like that cannot be caught anywhere ”.

King Richard: A Winning Family It takes advantage of the charisma and good vibes that Smith always reveals in front of the cameras, and offers a more emotional and sympathetic dynamic (perhaps in contrast to the level of demand or seriousness that the real Williams could have revealed with his daughters).

A sacrifice for a great goal

“Most of us have impossible dreams. There are things we would do if we believed they were possible. Essentially, it’s about wanting to be the best versions of ourselves, but sometimes our circumstances may not match that. It is the fulfillment of a wish for all of us ”, assured the actor.
And that entails sacrifices.

When the director of the film, Reinaldo Marcus Green, met with the original family to learn more details that would enrich the story, he realized that the Williams’ mother, Oracene, took double shifts to put food on the table in the house. home. While Richard had many jobs to meet financial needs and everything that sport demanded. At first they trained on abandoned courts or at night (sometimes with torrential downpours), before having a ticket to real tennis courts.

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Even Isha, Lyndrea and Tunde, the older sisters, were on the court with Venus and Serena. They collected balls, hung posters and when they left school they went to take care of the little ones. That spirit of collaboration was revealed in the film as well, as Venus, Isha, and Serena Williams are executive producers on King Richard: A Winning Family, and along with her sisters, Lyndrea worked on the production’s costume team.

But what really stands out is the interpretation of a Will Smith focused on being the recipient of that message of being the best version of himself. “There was a connection from the relationship with my own daughter, Willow, in front of her singing career to really understand the space that Richard found with Venus and Serena, where he doesn’t push, don’t drive, don’t hit. “

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“One of the most beautiful things Venus said was that when they were little and got in trouble, their punishment was that they couldn’t play tennis. Richard found a beautiful mindset in which he was not pushing, but was leading them towards the dreams they had chosen as a family, ”Smith concluded.

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