King Richard: movie about Richard Williams coming out soon

[Vamos Rafa Nadal]

I had mixed feelings about the movie. I can't stand Will Smith - he's a competent movie star actor, but I just really don't like him - his personality puts me off big time, too much ego.

I liked all of the females in the movie, especially the girl who plays Venus (her first name is Sanniya but I can't remember her last name).

The tennis atmosphere was done well and was quite interesting. However, I have huge objections to training kids before they are 15 with an aim of tennis stardom. They may think it's THEIR dream but it really isn't - youngsters need to develop themselves and learn how to make choices for themselves. The father's plan was coercive and manipulative and unfair. The big money offers is problematic for me - celebrity endorsements are creepy, somehow I am going to want to purchase a product because a wealthy tennis player is in the advertisement? Blech.

I also did not like how it made it seem like Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario cheated Venus out of a win. I found this ugly and defamatory.

The lines that were supposed to be funny that Richard Williams says in the movie made me cringe.

Did I understand that Serena and Venus's 3 other female siblings having the last name of Price rather than Williams is because they are half-siblings on their mother's side?

I give the film a B-. Ironically the aspect of the movie I like the least is Will Smith's performance and the manipulative way the film portrays Richard Williams.

 

[adil1972]

just finish seeing this movie

nice great movie btw

I was not aware that there was borg mcenroe movie

 

[speedysteve]

Unfortunate choice of title - King.
Has all the wrong vibes.

King
noun
the male ruler of an independent state, especially one who inherits the position by right of birth.

Will probably watch when it's on TV

 

[THUNDERVOLLEY]

I also did not like how it made it seem like Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario cheated Venus out of a win. I found this ugly and defamatory.

Is it based on fact? If so, then that's not quite a defamatory depiction.

 

[CHillTennis]

O.K., at the risk of having rocks thrown at me the trailer for this movie makes me want to vomit. There's lots of Oscar talk for the merely competent Will Smith, a movie star actor with imo limited acting skills, for his performance. The film looks to me to be an untrue hero-worshipping account of someone who was truly disliked by the tennis community - for good reasons - make in the time period when Serena and Venus were coming up as new future stars of tennis. The comments I have read about it have made me know that the commentators don't know anything about tennis or the true early history of the Williams sisters. The only movie about tennis that I really enjoyed was Borg-McEnroe, the Swedish film about Bjorn Borg's rise to fame and his rivalry with John McEnroe.

Are people looking forward to this tennis-related movie? Or do they feel like I do that this is a full of baloney movie that attempts to rehabilitate Richard Williams as a hero when nothing could be further from the truth?

I won't be watching that. Definite pass!!

 

[Rattie]

O.K., at the risk of having rocks thrown at me the trailer for this movie makes me want to vomit. There's lots of Oscar talk for the merely competent Will Smith, a movie star actor with imo limited acting skills, for his performance. The film looks to me to be an untrue hero-worshipping account of someone who was truly disliked by the tennis community - for good reasons - make in the time period when Serena and Venus were coming up as new future stars of tennis. The comments I have read about it have made me know that the commentators don't know anything about tennis or the true early history of the Williams sisters. The only movie about tennis that I really enjoyed was Borg-McEnroe, the Swedish film about Bjorn Borg's rise to fame and his rivalry with John McEnroe.

Are people looking forward to this tennis-related movie? Or do they feel like I do that this is a full of baloney movie that attempts to rehabilitate Richard Williams as a hero when nothing could be further from the truth?

Couldn't have put it better.

 

[TimHenmanATG]

The film looks to me to be an untrue hero-worshipping account of someone who was truly disliked by the tennis community - for good reasons - make in the time period when Serena and Venus were coming up as new future stars of tennis.

I don't think that this is a far criticism. This would be like complaining that the film Titanic wasn't a historical documentary.

In reality, a "true to life" film about Richard Williams would be exceptionally dull.

I'm not a huge fan of films surrounding current or recent events because I find it really difficult for the "willing suspension of disbelief" to naturally occur.

 

[adil1972]

i am sorry if this has been posted already

"They painted me as a very bad person" - Sanchez Vicario voices displeasure over King Richard portrayal

Former world No. 1 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario was a guest on the Spanish radio program El Larguero and there she voiced some displeasure over how she was portrayed in King Richard. In one scene of the f...

tennisuptodate.com

 

[Deleted member 788697]

Will Smith is hopeless at doing voices. He completely butchered the Muhammad Ali voice, and sounded nothing like Richard Williams either.
And copying the voice is a lot more important than physical appearance, because we know its almost impossible to duplicate the appearance.
There are plenty of actors very capable of duplicating a voice with tone, thickness and accent, but Will Smith should never be given that challenge.
He's either very lazy or very untalented, or both.

 

[Krish872007]

Will Smith is hopeless at doing voices. He completely butchered the Muhammad Ali voice, and sounded nothing like Richard Williams either.
And copying the voice is a lot more important than physical appearance, because we know its almost impossible to duplicate the appearance.
There are plenty of actors very capable of duplicating a voice with tone, thickness and accent, but Will Smith should never be given that challenge.
He's either very lazy or very untalented, or both.

To be fair, butchering voices is probably the least of Will Smith's concerns these days...

 

[Deleted member 788697]

If they made this film before 2015, Natalie Portman still looked young enough to play Hingis.
I think her character in Black Swan (2010) was about 20.