I was already hearing bad things about John Ridley’s “Shirley,” and it’s a film that’s also been plagued by reshoots, delays and mediocre test scores.
By all accounts, it looks like Netflix is dumping the film by now giving it a March release. They know it’s not an Oscar contender. A trailer has just been released.
This is a biopic that centers on 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. However, test screenings have not been good. An attendee told me it had “every cliche of a generic biopic”. As for King’s performance …
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.
The film started production in December 2021, it wrapped sometime in 2022, with reshoots having occured many months later. Until this morning, the film had been in a state of limbo.