UPDATED: Netflix is now saying that “Shirley” is indeed a 2024 TBA. Does this movie even exist?
EARLIER: I was already hearing toxic things about John Ridley’s “Shirley,” and then word came last fall of additional reshoots for the Netflix-produced film. That put a dent in it appearing at any of the fall festivals.
This is a biopic about Shirley Chisholm, America's first Black congresswoman. Chisholm is played here by the talented Regina King. On-paper, it could be good, especially with ‘12 Years A Slave’ scribe Ridley at the helm.
The film started production in December 2021, it wrapped sometime in 2022, but we’re not really sure exactly when given that there were some reshoots and the film has been in a state of limbo ever since.
Now I’m getting word that “Shirley” has been booted out of Netflix’s 2023 schedule. I’ll have to dig into the reasons why. Is it safe to assume that it’s now a 2024 release? It hasn’t appeared in any of the fest lineups so far.
Last year, after an online test screening, I received a few reactions for “Shirley,” they were all BAD. My favorite one was this little nugget sent over to me on July 22nd, 2022:
“This is my reaction. It’s bad. Like, comically bad. Every cliche in a generic biopic imaginable is in this. It’s through and through Oscar-bait trash. I would love to say, at the very least, that King was good in the role, unfortunately she’s not. It’s like she’s doing an impression in a comedy sketch. If anyone had this in their predictions, I would advise them to remove it. This is going nowhere.”
As mentioned, “Shirley” currently doesn’t have a release date, and with the kind of reactions that its been getting, one might expect Netflix to just dump it sometime in early 2024.
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