See Regina King become the first Black congresswoman Shirley Chisholm in “Shirley” first look

The biopic will chronicle Chisholm’s groundbreaking run for president of the United States.

Regina King is running for president in a biopic that’s over 10 years in the making.

The Oscar-winning actress is set to portray Shirley Chisholm, the first Black U.S. congresswoman, in the upcoming feature film, Shirley. King has been attached to the project since 2012 and spent over a decade trying to get the movie greenlit — only now is her dream finally coming true.

On Tuesday, Netflix dropped our first look of King in ‘70s garb as the political trailblazer.

Shirley will chronicle Chisholm’s groundbreaking run for president of the United States which began in 1972, making her the first Black candidate to seek a major party’s nomination for the presidency. By this point, Chisholm had already cemented her name in history: in 1968, she became the first Black woman elected to the US Congress. From there, she continued to earn the respect of her constituents and peers while climbing the political ladder.

King, who is co-producing the film with her sister Reina, told Harpar’s Baazar that getting Chisholm’s story before a large audience was always part of her motivation to make the film.

“It was always a little disheartening for Reina and I to have so many people over the years of our lives not know who Shirley Chisholm was,” King said. “What she did was so pioneering. She was a true maverick and, you know, we use this term all the time, but she was a true first.”

Now that the film has finally come together, King points out that there’s no better timing for Shirley than 2024.

“Instead of trying to release it during any normal cycle, we thought, wouldn’t it be more impactful to release it during a presidential election year?” she explains. “As a team, we felt that is probably the best way we could possibly honor Shirley: to release her in a space that she created for herself.”

The film comes from writer-director John Ridley, a fellow Oscar winner who took home a statuette for his 12 Years a Slave screenplay. Alongside King as Chisholm, Shirley stars Lucas Hedges, Brian Stokes Mitchell, André Holland, Terrence Howard, and the late Lance Reddick.

Speaking highly of Chisholm, King added, “She embraced what made her different and used it as her superpower. Making the decision to run for president as a Black woman in those times, it really made people think, ‘Is she crazy?’ But if you want to call it crazy, then crazy is a good thing.”

Shirley hits Netflix on March 22, 2024.

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