Serena and Venus Williams have dominated courts around the world, but can they win big at the Oscars too?
We’ll find out soon enough when King Richard, the biopic following their rise as young athletes and their father Richard Williams’ involvement in their ascent, competes at the 2022 Academy Awards. The film has six nominations, including a Best Picture and Best Actor nod for Will Smith, who plays Richard produced the film. These mark his first Oscar nominations in 15 years, following Pursuit of Happyness in 2007.
“Every time you were with him, it was just jokes upon jokes,” actress Demi Singleton, who plays young Serena, told ELLE of working with Smith. “You’d laugh until you almost wet yourself.”
Aunjanue Ellis also rightfully earned a Supporting Actress nomination for her performance as Oracene “Brandy” Price, Venus and Serena’s mother, who played an integral role in the young stars’ success too.
Acting alongside Smith and Ellis is tough enough; playing tennis like two of the greatest players in the world is even tougher. Of the physical training the role required, Saniyya Sidney, who plays Venus, also told ELLE, “There were times when it was hard, and I cried and was sore and in pain, but it was definitely for a great reason.”
Here are all of King Richard‘s nominations:
- Best Picture
- Best Actor: Will Smith
- Best Supporting Actress: Aunjanue Ellis
- Best Original Screenplay: Zach Baylin
- Best Film Editing: Pamela Martin
- Best Original Song: “Be Alive” by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Darius Scott (aka DIXSON)
Where can I watch it online?
King Richard was released in theaters Nov. 19, 2021 and began streaming on HBO Max on the same day. Now that its exclusive 31-day streaming window is over, however, online viewers hoping to catch the Williams’ story on-screen will have to buy the film digitally for now. That’s at least until it’s available to stream again.
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