Barack and Michelle Obama’s real-life romance is getting the Hollywood treatment.
Stephanie Allain of Homegrown Pictures confirmed to msnbc that an upcoming film, titled “Southside With You,” will recreate the president’s first date with the future first lady, during which they took in a screening of Spike Lee’s seminal movie “Do the Right Thing.”
“I took her to this new movie that everybody was talking about, directed by a guy that not that many people had heard of, but it was supposed to be pretty good,” Obama recalled last year during the film’s 25th anniversary celebration.
Michelle’s memories were a little snarkier. “We had lunch, and he had this bad sport jacket and a cigarette dangling from his mouth, and I thought: ‘Oh, here you go. Here’s this good-looking, smooth-talking guy. I’ve been down this road before,’” she told “Obama: From Promise to Power” author David Mendell. The future 44th president managed to win his fellow attorney over and the couple married in 1992.
According to Deadline.com, “Think Like a Man” actress Tika Sumpter has already been cast as Michelle and the hunt is on for an actor to fill Barack’s iconic shoes. In the past, the president has suggested that Will Smith would make a suitable film version of himself, and the Oscar-nominated rapper-actor has concurred.
“If I am ordered by my commander in chief to star in a film about him, I will do my duty as an American,” Smith said back in 2009.
The first lady has also weighed in. “Will Smith or Denzel Washington might be able to pull it off. Will’s got those ears, though, which might give him an edge,” she told PopSugar in 2012.
“Southside With You” is reportedly going to be structured in a vein similar to the indie classic “Before Sunrise” starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. It will follow the two lovebirds over the course of one afternoon. Filming is set to begin in July on location in Chicago. The shoot will likely include a pit-stop at Baskin-Robbins in the city’s Hyde Park neighborhood, where the Obamas’ first kiss has been commemorated with a plaque. Richard Tanne, who also wrote the screenplay, will direct the film, which is being produced for Homegrown by former Warner Independent executive Tracey Bing and Allain. Sumpter, who helped conceive the project, will also executive produce. “Stephanie and I are excited to produce this smart and timeless film that sheds light on one of the great love stories of our time,” Bing told Deadline. “Richard really captures the essence of that romantic connection between Barack and Michelle that is so evident in the way that they look at each other. We are looking forward to finding the perfect Barack.”
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