Along the way, we learn his origin story as a tennis paterfamilias: Richard Williams decides his unborn daughters will be tennis phenoms after watching Romania’s Virginia Ruzici win about $40,000 in prize money.
The film begins with the Williams family living in Compton, California as Richard (Will Smith) tries to find a professional tennis coach for young Venus (Saniyyah Sidney) and Serena (Demi Singleton). It pulls material from family recollections, memoirs of both Richard Williams and Serena Williams, and various interviews. King Richard is the remarkable tale of how a Black man born in the Jim Crow South became the guiding force behind two of the greatest tennis players in history. From casting to dialogue to scene choice, that same care undergirds the entire film. Smith does not physically resemble Williams, but embodies his spirit through the stoop of his shoulders and the careful study of voice, bending his vowels like the curve of a country road. So it is fitting that King Richard, the new biopic about Richard Williams starring Will Smith (and directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green), begins with narration that honors his raspy Louisiana diction without caricature. And as the father of tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams, he will never be short of eager ears to listen.
To hear Richard Williams speak is to be spellbound by the voice of a man with stories to tell. Actors Will Smith, Saniyyah Sidney, and Demi Singleton star as Richard, Venus, and Serena Williams / Courtesy of Warner Bros.