'King Richard': Social Media Shows Love to Will Smith for Portrayal of Venus and Serena Williams' Father

The film King Richard arrived in theatres and HBO Max on Friday, and it tells the story of Richard Williams, who is the father of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams. Willi Smith plays the role of Richard Williams, and social media loves the movie because of how Smith played the role. Earlier this month Smith was interviewed by his King Richard co-stars Demi Singleton and Saniyya Sidney and was asked why he wanted to tackle the role of Richard Williams. 

"I love stories where you think you know," Smith said, per Entertainment Weekly. "You pull the veil back when people didn't know there was a veil. Richard Williams was wildly misunderstood. I enjoyed being able to humanize a figure that had been somewhat demonized in the sport. He's actually a genius. He planned two Michael Jordans. Think about how wild that is." 

Smith also explained why he didn't get a chance to spend as much time with Richard Williams as he would have liked. "Because of COVID, I wasn't able to spend a lot of time with Richard. So, it's tons of tape, interviews, he wrote a book," he said. "I'm always trying to find what is most like me. The thing that I connected to with Richard was the sense that nobody believed in him. When you have a big, giant dream and everybody keeps telling you how wrong you are, how silly you are, and how impossible that is. That's where I started to build out what makes him tick." Here's a look at what social media had to say about King Richard."