‘King Richard’ trailer shows Will Smith as Richard Williams pushing Venus and Serena to greatness

“Mr. Williams, it looks like you’ve got the next Michael Jordan on your hands.”
It’s been two years since a movie project starring Will Smith as Richard Williams, father and coach to Serena and Venus Williams was announced. Titled King Richard, that film is now on the verge of hitting theaters.

Smith revealed the trailer on Instagram Wednesday, just before Warner Bros. Pictures set its marketing machinery in motion to promote the first look at the film. With a Nov. 19 release date, it’s apparent that the studio believes Smith and the movie could be Academy Award contenders.

Warner Bros. couldn’t have realized that the King Richard trailer would be released amid a national discussion about athletes’ mental health in light of gymnast Simone Biles’ decision to withdraw from the Olympic women’s team gymnastics final. Watching clips from a story about a father driving his daughters hard to become world-class athletes and cultural icons — to the point that it concerns other parents — might not quite feel right to some at this moment.

But maybe those feelings will change in the four months before the film’s release. Take a look at the first trailer for King Richard:

“One of the greatest honors as an actor is to be able to celebrate someone’s legacy while they’re still here creating it,” Smith said on Instagram. “I’ve gotten to do it a few times in my career playing [Chris Gardner] and [Muhammad Ali] and every time it’s a fulfilling and expansive experience beyond compare.”

Will the tennis sequences be convincing? Might the film use archival footage to show Venus and Serena’s most memorable matches? Authenticity can be important with movies such as this. Or will the majority of the story focus on their early careers since this movie focuses on Richard Williams?

King Richard debuts Nov. 19 in theaters and on HBO Max.