Will Smith originally had a much more shocking transformation planned for King Richard, however was dismissed by chief Reinaldo Marcus Green. Written by Zach Baylin in his screenwriting debut, the upcoming biopic stars Smith as Richard Williams, the father and coach of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams. The film follows Richard as he uses unconventional coaching strategies to elevate his teenage daughters from the roads of Compton, California to the global symbols they are known as today.
Presently, in an interview with Insider, King Richard’s chief reveals that Smith and Warner Bros. originally had a much more shocking transformation planned, yet he put the kibosh to it. The makeup and prosthetic department went through hours transforming Smith into Williams, which everybody appeared to be amped up for – expect for the chief. While he figured they worked effectively on the physical transformation, Green basically didn’t want that for the film, instead opting for a little gray in Smith’s hair and beard. Read what the chief had to say beneath:
They made him look like Richard Williams, it was straight-up shocking. I resembled, “Look, you all made an incredible showing, however I don’t want that.” Will has his acting coach who has been with him for 30 movies, he had a dialect coach so he could speak similar to Richard, we have to such an extent. And it would have been three hours of Will being in the makeup chair each day. Who wants to do that? I looked at Will straight in the eye and said, “Look, we needn’t bother with that.” We needn’t bother with him to look like Will Smith. We wanted him to sink in and disappear, however that doesn’t mean making him look like Richard.
Whether or not Smith takes home Oscar gold for whenever remains first to be seen. If he does, he can take comfort in the information that it was on the back of his acting talent, rather than a physical transformation. It was an intense call for Green to challenge both the studio and his lead star, yet one that appears to be paying profits early on as King Richard continues to rack up great press.