‘Her Lion Would Die For Her’: Will Smith Reveals The Venus Williams Interview That Convinced Him to Play Richard Williams

‘King Richard’, the biographical drama about the lives of Serena and Venus Williams, has been a stellar success. The movie, which the Williams sisters produced themselves, came out in November 2021.

The movie tells the story of Serena and Venus Williams through the perspective of Richard Williams, their father. Moreover, it highlights how Venus and Serena battled incredible odds to rise to the superstardom they have today.

Will Smith, the legendary actor who plays Richard Williams, shares what made him decide to pick the role.

An old Venus Williams interview convinced Will Smith to play her father

Will Smith, the Oscar-nominee actor, shared what convinced him to play the role of Richard Williams. He referred to an interview where a young Venus Williams sat calmly while her father Richard raged on at the anchor for trying to make her nervous.

“That moment of (Richard) interrupting the interview was a pivotal moment in my decision-making process,” Smith shared. Furthermore, “the look on Venus’ face” amazed the actor, as “she (was) totally comfortable”.

Then, Smith went on to compare Richard to a lion. He stated that Venus knew “she had a lion” in her father.  He described how Venus Williams knew that her father, “her lion would die for her and kill for her”.

Nevertheless, Venus remained unfazed because she knew “the lion would never hurt her”. Thus, Will Smith described that Richard Williams, “as wild as (he) was in the public,” was “a total safe space for his daughter”.

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Smith called the dichotomy of Richard, as a ‘manic’ man to the public but a safe, comforting presence to his daughters, “wildly interesting.” Clearly, the moment had an impact on the 53-year-old actor, as he went on to do the role in the successful movie.

Smith explains the other side to Richard Williams

Smith shared how Richard Williams was never the cliched, standard “disciplinarian father pushing his daughters to excel”. In fact, “he was totally different,” the actor said.

In fact, Smith revealed that Venus Williams referred to what Richard did as “the Jedi mind trick.” He shared how Venus herself didn’t know how Richard made it so the sisters would themselves push him to play tennis.

Moreover, whenever they would get into trouble, their punishment would be to not be able to play tennis. “He had cultivated a relationship with his daughters,” Smith stated.

For Will Smith, “that was the most interesting part o putting this character on film”. What are your thoughts about Will Smith’s portrayal of Serena and Venus Williams’ father Richard?

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