*The stars and director of “Southside With You,” about Barack and Michelle Obama’s first date in Chicago, were on hand for its debut at Sundance earlier this week.
Director Richard Tanne wants folks to know that the film is not a biopic, but a “love story told through the prism of Barry Obama and then Michelle Robinson,” way before they became “the President and the First Lady,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.
Actor Parker Sawyers said he was interested in playing Barack because of “how they listen to each other — they really challenge each other.”
Tika Sumpter agreed, adding she was excited about “the challenge of minds” and “real conversation” onscreen.
Sawyers said he read both of President Obama’s books and studied his speeches via YouTube videos. Sumpter, who signed on as a producer as well after reading Tanne’s one-page synopsis, said her best research was found in the book written by Michelle’s brother Craig Robinson.
“It basically told me how she was as a younger girl,” she said of A Game of Character. “The great thing is we’re playing them when they were in their twenties, so that kind of alleviated some of the stress.”
Though the Obamas have yet to see the film, their camp has received the script — and sent back a thumbs-up to Tanne. “We have it from a good source that they’re excited and a little baffled by its existence,” he said.
Watch The Hollywood Reporter’s interview with the stars and director of “Southside With You” below:
Below, a review of the film’s two actors from The Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy:
Very tall and bereft of Obama’s slight geekiness (a moment devoted to his protruding ears doesn’t convince because the actor’s are not), Parker Sawyers crafts an immaculately considered portrait of a man of stature in the making; the ideas and ambitions are visible in rough-hewn form, quite recognizable from what we know publicly but with a ways to go. This is an ambitious man, but this trait doesn’t define his personality as presented here.
From the first second she’s onscreen, the striking Tika Sumpter is 100 percent the Michelle Obama the public has come to know: formidable, intellectually probing and a bit fierce. She may come across as overly guarded and judgmental but, as Barack obviously decides during the date, she’s worth every bit of the extra effort necessary to know her. Sumpter brings out all these qualities and more in a spot-on performance.
Read McCarthy’s entire review here.
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