Aunjanue Ellis on King Richard and Will Smith’s Process for Playing the Role

With director Reinaldo Marcus Green’s King Richard opening in theaters and streaming on HBO Max this Friday, I recently got to speak with Aunjanue Ellis about playing Oracene ’Brandy’ Williams in the fantastic sports biopic. As you’ve seen in the trailers, King Richard stars Will Smith, as the titular “King” Richard Williams, the father and coach of two of the biggest names in the tennis world, Serena and Venus Williams, played by Demi Singleton and Saniyya Sidney, respectively. Featuring an incredible performance by Will Smith and a story that you will think is made up but is absolutely true, King Richard is a great reminder that anything is possible, as long as you are willing to put in the work. The film also stars Jon Bernthal as Coach Rick Macci, Tony Goldwyn as Coach Paul Cohen, and Dylan McDermott. During the interview, Aunjanue Ellis talks about some of the things she heard about the story that she figured were made up but were actually true, how the family really had two more kids with