(AllHipHop News) Will Smith is set to star as Richard Williams in a forthcoming film. Richard Williams is the father and former coach of professional tennis superstars Venus Williams and Serena Williams.
Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment, Warner Bros Pictures, Richard Williams, his business partner Chavoita Lesane, and others are named as defendants in a breach of contract lawsuit. TW3 Entertainment and Power Move Multi Media’s legal dispute over the King Richard biopic is centered around the rights to Richard Williams’ life.
Deadline reports:
The plaintiffs claim in the suit they bought the rights to Williams’ book for a mere $10,000 three years ago from Lesane – who was involved in an initial draft of a script for the project too. The complaint details that the elder Williams allegedly gave limited power of attorney to Lesane, for “purposes of dealing with film and media rights for his book.” It was in that vein that TW3 and PMMM supposedly picked up the rights to the memoir of the father of two of the greatest athletes of all time for what could be considered nickels on the dollar.
At the moment, King Richard is scheduled to be released in 2021. Reinaldo Marcus Green is directing the motion picture with Zach Baylin credited as the screenwriter. Besides Smith playing Richard Williams, the cast also includes Saniyya Sidney (Hidden Figures) as Venus Williams and Demi Singleton (Godfather of Harlem) as Serena Williams.