Jon Bernthal is going from the guy in the suit in Ford v Ferrari to guy on the tennis court. According to Deadline, Bernthal will play Rick Macci in the movie King Richard. King Richard is not some medieval tale, but rather a biopic about the father of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams. Bernthal is in negotiations for the role to join this movie about Richard Williams, who will be played by Will Smith.
Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton will play young Venus and Serena and Aunjanue Ellis will play Brandi Williams, the twins’ mother. In King Richard, Bernthal will portray the couch who agreed to train Richard’s daughter. This was after watching the twins while they were young and seeing how much potential they had. Coach Macci had also just trained Jennifer Capriati before then, who was another young superstar. Macci also trained Maria Sharapova and Andy Roddick.
Bernthal just portrayed Lee Iacocca in Oscar-nominated Ford v Ferrari, so this will be his next upcoming biopic. Bernthal is no stranger to portraying real-life characters, as he once played Michael Sussman, the attorney representing the NAACP in HBO’s miniseries Show Me a Hero. He’s also wrapped his leading role in The Sopranos prequel and the Taylor Sheridan movie Those Who Wish Me Dead. Bernthal has been known for such iconic roles as Frank Castle and Shane Walsh.
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