True Stories 51: 20s—King Richard

I hate sports movies. I’m not into any sports, I don’t watch them for fun, and I don’t play them for fun either. In fact, “sports” and “fun” don’t belong in the same sentence for me.

But I loved King Richard, by Zach Baylin, even though it’s about the sport of tennis.

Well, is tennis really a sport I ask you? When I think of sports I think of people trying to tackle each other, run by each other, skate over each other, run rings around each other… most sports have this violent edge to them to some degree. But not tennis. Tennis seems more about the precision of making your shot—it’s you against the ball and the court, your opponent is just a kind of ball-delivery system.

At least, that’s one way of looking at it. But like golf, it’s more of a test of yourself against the playing field than it is yourself against another person.

And if we’re talking sports biopic, well, King Richard is textbook. And, of course, we know how it comes out—we know that he and his wife raise two incredibly talented tennis stars in Venus and Serena Williams. But, for most of us, that’s all we know.

Take a look at the trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKP_0z52ZAw

I’ve talked before about how you have to be careful when telling the story of people who are still living—they could sue you if they don’t like your interpretation of their life. And they could win, so caution is a good thing to have in that kind of situation.

But King Richard had the support of the family, of the very people it was telling the story of. And that’s important. Sometimes having a big star as your lead—one who respects the idea that you want to portray the real story without making stuff up—can help you get your film before the right people and, thus, help get it made.

In the case of Venus and Serena Williams, well, everyone knew them. They were powerhouses [and often still are] in the tennis world. You could imagine doing a biopic on either of them, or both of them, and having that story be interesting. But as a screenwriter, one of the most important questions you can ask about a famous person is “how did they get there?”—and in answering that question, you may find your movie.

So in the case of Venus and Serena, you quickly realize that they got to where they are because of their talent, surely, but also because of parents—and in particular their slightly quirky father—mapping out a plan for them to succeed.

Anytime you can write about a character as distinctive and interesting as Richard Williams, you’re off to a good start!

Next week we look at another mesmerizing character in Judas and the Black Messiah.

Copyright © Diane Lake

04Jun23

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