Oscar-winner Regina King

Oscar-winner Regina King playing Shirley Chisholm in an upcoming biopic.

Oscar-winner Regina King is set to star in Participant Media’s upcoming Shirley Chisholm biopic, Shirley. The feature will be written by Adam Countee and directed by John Ridley.

King has been working on bringing Chisholm’s story to the big screen for some time now. We first heard reporting of this back in 2012. She and her sister, Reina King, will produce through heir production company, Royal Ties. The project has Chisholm’s life rights through an agreement with her estate.

Following her presidential campaign. The film will “the movie will provide an intimate, behind-the-scenes portrait of the ground-breaking political leader during a seminal period in modern American history,” as reported by Deadline. 

“Shirley Chisholm’s fearless determination has been an inspiration to so many of us, and with this film we hope to inspire many generations to come,” King said in a statement. “To collaborate once again with my friend and mentor, John Ridley, & the team at Participant, makes this decade-long journey even sweeter.”

The project is “less a biopic than a snapshot of Chisholm’s ground-breaking campaign, as the first Black female in Congress became the first woman; & the first person of color to seek a major American political party’s presidential nomination. Her run challenged the status quo through her efforts; to gain enough delegates to speak for the people at the Democratic National Convention.”

Chisholm was recently portrayed on the small screen by Uzo Aduba in FX on Hulu’s Mrs. America. Aduba won an Emmy for her work.

Oscar-winner Regina King

“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,” said Ridley. “I’m very thankful to both Regina and Reina trusting me to partner in telling the story of this truly remarkable individual.”

This is the second Chisholm film in the works. Danai Gurira; also attached to star in The Fighting Shirley Chisholm, which initially had Viola Davis earmarked to star.

Uzo Aduba played Chisholm last year in the FX on Hulu limited series, Mrs. America. 

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