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The film tells the story of Shirley Chisholm, the first Black congresswoman, and marks one of the late Lance Reddick’s final roles.
By Christy Piña
Associate Editor
Regina King is fighting to make a difference as Shirley Chisholm, the first Black congresswoman, in Netflix‘s Shirley.
The film tells the story of Chisholm’s trailblazing United States presidential campaign in 1972, making her the first Black candidate to seek a major party’s nomination for president and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Her boundary-breaking campaign was marked by its youth engagement as she tried to gain enough delegates to speak at that year’s Democratic National Convention.
The John Ridley film also stars the late Lance Reddick in one of his final roles, as well as Lucas Hedges, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Christina Jackson, Dorian Crossmond Missick, Amirah Vann, André Holland and Terrence Howard.
The two-minute trailer kicks off with King’s Chisholm announcing her presidential candidacy, as she says she’s paving the road for people who look like her to get elected.
“You going to be president? You ain’t no man,” a little boy says to her during a street fair. “Maybe we should find your mother,” she responds.
As she tries to gain support for her presidential bid — partnering up with the Black Panthers at one point — she faces setbacks, stemming from people who think she can’t do it. But that doesn’t stop her.
“I see too much suffering, and I don’t know how to not try,” King’s Chisholm says during the look at the film, later adding, “I’m going to force all of the politicians to be held accountable.”
She concludes the trailer by noting, “The people of America are watching us.”
When King’s casting was announced, the Oscar-winning actress — who also produces the film through her banner Royal Ties Productions — shared that she and her fellow producers hope to “inspire many generations to come” with the Netflix project.
“Regina’s passion for bringing a complete and very human portrait of Shirley to life has been evident since literally the day we first met,” writer-director Ridley also shared at the time.
King is the most recent actress to portray the trailblazer. Uzo Aduba also took on the role of Chisholm in Hulu’s Mrs. America, for which she won an Emmy, while Danai Gurira is set to play her in another biopic, The Fighting Shirley Chisholm.
Shirley hits Netflix on March 22.
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