See Regina King transform into a political powerhouse in ‘Shirley’

The Academy Award-winning King stars as political trailblazer Shirley Chisholm in a newly released Netflix trailer for the biopic, “Shirley.” The movie chronicles Chisholm’s historic 1972 bid to become president, the first Black candidate to seek a major party’s nomination for the White House.

“I’m paving the road for a lot of other people looking like me to get elected,” King as Chisholm says in the preview.

Long before her bid for the presidency, Chisolm was already a history-making lawmaker as the first Black woman elected to the US Congress in 1968. She represented New York’s 12th congressional district for seven terms.

“Shirley” is written and directed by John Ridley. King and Ridley previously collaborated on the limited series “American Crime,” for which she won two Emmy Awards.

King told Harper’s Bazaar that “Shirley” took nearly fifteen years to come to fruition. The film’s release heading into another presidential election is intentional.

“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?” King said. “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.”

Lucas Hedges, André Holland, Christina Jackson, Terrence Howard and the late Lance Reddick also star in the film.

“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,” King added.

“Shirley” will debut on Netflix on March 22nd.

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