King Richard True Story: How Much Is Real (& What It Left Out)

Biopic King Richard tackles a different story than other sports movies of its kind, but how much of it is true – and what does it leave out? Rather than set the primary focus on tennis legends, Venus and Serena Williams (Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton), director Reinaldo Marcus Green instead decides to zero in on the controversial figure of Richard Williams (Will Smith), the athletes’ outspoken father. The film is sure to give Smith a foot in the door when it comes to Oscar season, as the actor underwent a startling transformation to accurately capture Richard’s speech, movements, attitude, and aesthetic.

King Richard starts with Richard Williams handing out pamphlets to different elite tennis coaches, asking for free lessons for his prodigy daughters. Will Smith channels his previous movie role as Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness because after receiving plenty of rejection, the father chooses to carry on optimistically with his massive 85-page plan for his daughters’ life. After a lot of practice at a Compton community tennis court, Venus gets the chance to play under famed tennis coach Paul Cohen. Venus faces instant success in Junior’s tournaments, but Richard decides to pull her out because he wants his kids to still get a chance to be kids. Venus then trains with Rick Macci and eventually convinces her dad to put her back into the competition.

The cast of characters in King Richard represent their real-life examples fairly accurately. Focusing on Richard’s story is a newer lens through which audiences can digest the background and upbringing that helped shape Venus and Serena Williams. However, Richard Williams is a rather controversial figure. The father is cited as putting his daughters through training too early and too harshly. The movie puts forth the idea that he might have gone too far in mapping out a life in which his daughters don’t have a lot of say. Richard Williams utilized a number of questionable tactics with his daughters to put them on the road to success in the movie. Here’s what parts of King Richard are true and what it leaves out.

Richard’s Plan For His Daughters Was Real

Sports biopics based on tragic real-life true stories, such as I, Tonya often feature parents with questionable motives for their prodigal children’s futures. Richard Williams is no different; his 85-page plan for his daughters’ lives was real. Even more shockingly, the plan was written before their conception. Some may see the plan as incredible, considering that a large majority of it actually came to pass. Others might find it concerning that a father would plan out his children’s lives without their input. Either way, the plan plays a major role in the film, and its creation, follow-through, and execution are all very real. The completion of the plan is cited in the credits, as well as its success.

One of the only ways in which the plan’s presentation is questionable regards Richard’s reasoning behind its origins. In Will Smith’s realistic performance as Richard, he states that he wrote up the plan after watching  Virginia Ruzici playing on television, and he notices how much money she makes. He also cites that there aren’t enough Black Americans playing tennis, and decides to get his daughters involved to give opportunities to other Black players that are excluded from the sport. In numerous television appearances, however, only the first reason was ever cited by Richard as the inspiration for the plan. However, no one can really know if the more noble reason was sitting in the back of his mind. It’s also possible the understanding only came to Richard after Venus’ success and the revelation of what her career meant for young girls of color.

Their Sister Isha Was Also A Tennis Player

Something that isn’t mentioned in King Richard is Isha Price’s (Daniele Lawson) short-lived tennis ambitions. Will Smith’s character doesn’t force sibling rivalry onto Venus and Serena, rather, he makes sure that the sisters remain humble and support one another. However, it’s interesting that the film doesn’t include older sister Isha Price’s real-life tennis career. Before Isha went on to become a lawyer, she briefly trained with her stepfather before pulling out due to a back injury. Isha was talented as a tennis player, however, her injury forced her to put those dreams aside – if they even were truly her dreams to begin with.

In reality, Isha Price was fine with the film’s omission of her tennis potential in her early life. Venus and Serena got executive producer credits for King Richard, as did Isha Price, but she took a far more active role in the Will Smith-centered biopic. Price was on set for most filming days and was imperative to the film’s realistic portrayal of the Williams family. She often brought tidbits of information to the actors about their family life and growing up with Richard as their offbeat and ambitious father.

Richard’s Harrowing Childhood In Shreveport, Louisiana Was Real

In King Richard, the protagonist reveals some of the harrowing hardships he faces during his childhood in Shreveport, Louisiana. Richard talks about appalling experiences, such as having to outrun the Ku Klux Klan and various other violent activities within the community. The most shocking thing about his stories is that they were all completely true. The real Richard Williams was born in 1942 in the pre-civil rights South. Thus, he faced awful acts of targeted racism during his childhood and did, in fact, have several run-ins with the Ku Klux Klan. Part of the reason King Richard‘s reviews are so good is because of Will Smith’s portrayal of a man who faces unfair odds and succeeds anyway. The fact that he is able to come from such a dreadful place and time and come out alive to become who he is today, is nothing short of a miracle.

The Gang Violence Really Happened

A subplot of King Richard features an older gang member who is harassing Richard’s 16-year-old stepdaughter, Tunde Price (Mikayla Lashae Bartholomew). At first, Richard tries to resolve the conflict calmly, telling the gang member that his daughter is a minor and that she’s trying to study and to leave her alone. Because of this, Richard also becomes a target. He suffers numerous beatings from the gang until he decides to take matters into his own hands and goes after them with a gun. Before he can approach the gang member in question, however, the man is shot and killed in a drive-by. In the scene, Will Smith plays the scene with calculated suspense, as the audience simultaneously prays that the character doesn’t shoot but hopes the gang member will finally go away.

Richard Williams’ own book Black and White: The Way I See It reveals that the gang violence depicted in King Richard was real – to an extent. According to his autobiography, he really did go after gang members after repeated harassment of him and his daughter. However, he wrote that in reality, he couldn’t find them at first, and on his way home he encountered the gang member already dead in the street. So while there may have been a drive-by, Richard wasn’t there to witness it. Presumably, the experience was changed in the film in order to build suspense.

Richard Did Use Extreme Training Tactics

Richard Williams’ training tactics are what bring a level of controversy to the Williams’ sister’s father, much like Will Smith’s own promotion of his children’s careers. In King Richard their dad is shown bringing them to practice at the Compton court before and after school, making them play in the rain, watching tennis matches on a constant repeat, and touting his daughters around to various coaches asking for free training. The hardcore tactics bring attention to their neighbor, who calls child protective services on the family. Richard unleashes a powerful monologue onto the officers, citing that he will do anything and everything to keep his kids off of the streets.

Much of the rigorous training depicted in the film is true. According to The New York Times, Isha Price states that the girls were required to get up at 6 o’clock in the morning, practice tennis, go to school, and then play tennis again. The Aladdin actor does a good job at maintaining a balance of being harsh and demanding without crossing the line to abuse. However, the real-life Richard also wasn’t shy about putting restrictions on his daughters’ personal lives. In a profile in The New Yorker, Williams recalls ripping the heads off of Venus’ dolls to discourage early motherhood and forbidding his daughters from dating.

King Richard does a pretty stand-up job of maintaining a solid balance of reality and fiction when chronicling the story of Richard Williams and his famous daughters Venus and Serena. Richard’s 85-page plan is wholly real, though some of his reasoning behind it may be inflated. Will Smith toes the line between villain and hero throughout, made more understandable when one learns that the description of his childhood in Shreveport, Louisiana was, unfortunately, true. More, the violence he faced and took part in as a child is actually understated in King Richard, as well as the gang violence in Compton.

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