Regina King Is Our President

The devil works hard, but the biopic industrial complex works harder. This time, the machine snagged Regina King into its made-for-history-class clutches. The Oscar-winning actor is Shirley Chisholm in Netflix’s upcoming film, playing the first Black woman elected to Congress as she launches her presidential campaign in 1972. Her staffers and constituents are dumbfounded by the decision in the first trailer. Student coordinator Robert Gottlieb (Lucas Hedges) can’t hide his bewilderment in her Capitol chambers, while an outspoken extra tells her she ain’t no man. Responding to another cynic, she asks why she can’t win. “I have an opportunity to make a difference,” she says to one. To another: “I’m paving the road for a lot of other people who look like me to get elected.” John Ridley directs King, Hedges, Terrence Howard, Brian Stokes Mitchell, André Holland, and Lance Reddick in one of his last roles. Shirley hits Netflix on March 22, an election year gift from our leader, Regina King.