Will Smith’s performance as Richard Williams in the biopic King Richard continues to receive recognition as a stellar work of art. The nominations for the 28th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards have been released with Smith and the film nominated in some major categories. The film is nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Smith is also in the category to win the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role award. The award show is set to air on Sunday, Feb. 22 on TNT.
Based on a true story, King Richard tells the story of how a determined father used Tennis as a means to get his children out of Compton, California. He cultivated Venus and Serena Williams into international icons.
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In a chat with NPR, Smith spoke about what he learned from the famous tennis players about their father. He says he went into filming with his own misconceptions about Richard. The film was transformative for Smith.
“One of the biggest surprises was when we think about Richard Williams, we think about a standard, overbearing parent — and he was so not that,” he said. “He wasn’t the father that was hammering and pounding his kids to excel. He was the father who used love and he aligned with what they wanted for their lives, and it was a family mission It wasn’t Richard’s mission to get his kids to become something that would satiate his ego.”
More than anything, Smith says Richard was inspired by his daughters. “So one of the major things that I got from talking to Venus and Serena was, they were pushing Richard, in a way,” he said. “Venus called it the “Jedi mind trick,” that he somehow did a Jedi mind trick on them where they were pushing to play tennis, they wanted to excel. In terms of Richard’s priorities, God was first alongside family and love and school, and tennis was fifth or sixth on the list of what he wanted from them.”
