“Leave Her Alone”: Director Narrates Incident Where ‘King’ Richard Saved Venus Williams

King Richard, the movie which tracks the childhood days of American tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams told from the lens of father Richard, is all set to enthrall tennis fans and general movie-goers alike.

The movie’s premiere was held today at the TCL Chinese theatre in Los Angeles. It was attended by the Williams sisters along with tennis stars such as Reilly Opelka and Frances Tiafoe. Both the Williams sisters have done extensive promotions for the movie alongside Will Smith, who portrays Richard.

King Richard director mentions how Richard Williams responded to confrontation

Talking about the real-life persona of Richard, director Reinaldo Marcus Green mentioned the instances where Mr. Williams was always up for confrontations and faced them in the eye.

“Some people walk away from confrontation and other people face it directly. Richard seemed to me to be someone that didn’t back down from confrontation. He liked the fight. He liked being in the middle”, told Green.

To elucidate more on this, Reinaldo explained about a scene in the film where elder sister Venus Williams was giving an interview where the reporter wanted to extract more answers from the American surrounding a particular topic.

“There is a perfect scene in the movie where Venus is giving an interview. And Richard, you know, sort of jumps in front of the interviewer, and says ‘She answered the question the way she should answer it’ Leave her alone. I’m trying to instill confidence in my kids and you can’t cross that line'”. 

King Richard delves into the childhood struggle of Serena and Venus Williams

From the director’s explanation, it’s abundantly clear that there are going to be numerous of such off-court battles faced by Serena and Venus Williams as they found a way amidst the chaos to find success, thanks to Oracene Price and Richard himself.

The director also mentioned what Richard went through whenever someone questioned the abilities of either Venus or Serena Williams.

“I think he was really confronting his own demons and I think what Will Smith did so well, was really you know, channel and tune into that performance”, concluded Green.

With an ever-inspiring story to be remembered for ages, King Richard appears to have all the ingredients and details to be called an intricate family drama of struggle and hope. The movie hits the US theatres on the 19th of this month and simultaneously releases on streaming service, HBO Max.

Also read: “They’re Not Any Worse Than…”: Former Coach Opened Up on How Bad Venus and Serena Williams Were