John Ridley talks about 'Shirley,' Netflix movie on Shirley Chisholm starring Regina King

Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to run for U.S. president, has been a symbol of hope, determination and, most of all, possibilities for more than half a century.

She also was a flesh-and-blood person — something "Shirley," the new Netflix movie starring Oscar winner Regina King as Chisholm, demonstrates in a way that you don't see in most recent biopics.

King and her sister Reina King, who plays Chisholm's estranged sister in the movie, spent 15 years trying to get Chisholm's story to the screen. And that's how they wanted the story told, said John Ridley, the Oscar-winning screenwriter and Mequon native who wrote and directed "Shirley."

“They’ve just worked so hard and so long to really bring this story to the screen, to do it in a way that really honors Shirley (and) her legacy, but also really treats her as a real person and isn’t just about the 'what' but really who she was," Ridley said in an interview. " … To me, that’s what really impressed me about Regina and Reina’s take on the film — to make a really human story. And I was fortunate to be part of it.”

"Shirley" debuts on Netflix March 22.

Regina King recruited John Ridley to write and direct 'Shirley'

King brought the idea to Ridley nearly a decade ago when they were working on the third season of the Emmy-winning ABC series "American Crime." Instead of telling Chisholm's entire life story, they focused on the years leading up to her run for the Democratic nomination for president in 1972.

Chisholm successfully ran for Congress in 1968 determined to make a difference. As shown in "Shirley," she wasn't reluctant to stand up to Washington's politics-as-usual system once she got there.

With help from loyal advisors Wesley "Mac" Holder (played by Lance Reddick, in one of his last roles) and Arthur Hardwick (Terrence Howard) and young allies including a former intern (Lucas Hedges) and future Congresswoman Barbara Lee (Christina Jackson), Chisholm takes her effort further by announcing her candidacy for president. As she grinds it out on the campaign trail, she collides with a system in which backroom deals outweigh loyalty and compassion.

'Shirley' uses the past to illuminate the present

Ridley, an eager student of history and politics, relished taking a "deeper dive" into Chisholm's story and the politics of her era to write the script. It also allowed him to explore contemporary issues — like a political system seemingly designed to calcify differences instead of bringing people together — from the narrative safety of the past.

“Going back to the ‘70s, sometimes it’s easier to talk about the past, and people don’t feel like you’re wagging your finger at them,” Ridley said. “The sad thing is, now, a lot of people go, ‘Where are the politicians like Shirley Chisholm?’ And in the film you see, she was there, but people didn’t embrace” her cause even then.

King plays Chisholm as a woman driven by her ideals — sometimes at the expense of her personal relationships, including with her sister (Reina King) and her husband (played by Michael Cherrie) — and willing to make connections across divides to get things done. That reach, as shown in "Shirley," stretches from far left to far right, from Chisholm seeking an endorsement from the Black Panthers to reaching out to segregationist George Wallace after the Democratic rival was paralyzed by would-be assassin (and Milwaukee native) Arthur Bremer.

Could Chisholm's approach work today?

“If Shirley were here now, maybe she wouldn’t be progressive enough," Ridley said. If "(conservative Congresswoman) Marjorie Taylor Green got sick, Shirley Chisholm would go visit Marjorie Taylor Green in the hospital, and progressives would go, ‘What are you doing? You can’t work with her; she’s awful.' And Shirley would be like, ‘Well, I don’t agree with her politics, but I’ve got to treat her like a human being.'"

Ridley added he was pleased that "Shirley" is coming out in 2024. It's the centennial of Chisholm's birth (she died in 2005 at age 80) and, of course, a vital election year. The timing of both was important to King, he said.

“I think it was very important for Regina to remind young people … ," Ridley said. “I think it’s important for young people to know that politics is not beyond them and that, if they are part of the process, they can really make a difference.”

John Ridley supports bill calling for a Wisconsin film office and film tax credits

Ridley, who turns 60 this fall, usually has more than a half-dozen projects on his plate. But after last year's work stoppages because of the writers and actors strikes, he said he's "sort of slowed things down," spending more time with his family and working on "Doc Talk," a podcast on documentaries that's a joint venture of No Studios, the creative arts hub Ridley founded in Milwaukee, and entertainment website Deadline.com.

”I’m doing a lot less, trying to enjoy what I’m doing a lot more,” he said.

Ridley also has been involved in the push for the creation of a state film office and tax credits for film and television production in Wisconsin. A bill, which has bipartisan sponsorship, was introduced in the state Legislature in February.

Noting that "Shirley" was filmed in Los Angeles and Cincinnati, Ridley said the movie could have been made in Wisconsin "very easily." For the Chisholm movie, Cincinnati doubled for Brooklyn, Washington, D.C., and even Florida.

The difference? Ohio has tax credits for film productions; Wisconsin hasn't had them since 2009.

On the "Shirley" shoot, Ridley said, it was clear that local economies benefit from TV and movie production coming to town: “We have so many local hires on the crew, the cast. Rentals of people’s (period) cars … local caterers, local businesses, stayed in a local hotels."

“I’m excited that people are talking about it," Ridley said of the film tax credit proposal. "Wisconsin, in my opinion, needs to get in the game.”

More: New movies showing this week in Milwaukee theaters and on streaming services

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: John Ridley, Regina King aim for 'really human' Shirley Chisholm movie