‘King Richard’: Tony Goldwyn Stepping In For Liev Schreiber In Will Smith Pic About Williams Sisters’ Father

EXCLUSIVE: Tony Goldwyn is taking over for Liev Schreiber in Warner Bros.’ King Richard which is set to return to production in Los Angeles next week after pausing due to the pandemic earlier this spring.

Goldwyn is stepping in to play the role of Paul Cohen, a noted tennis coach whose clients included John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, and Venus and Serena Williams. I understand that Schreiber had to depart King Richard given a scheduling conflict.

The Reinaldo Marcus Green directed, Zach Baylin written feature follows the true story of hardscrabble, but iron-willed father of Venus and Serena Williams, (played by Will Smith) who had a plan to make his daughters the greatest tennis players in the world. This is how he pulled it off. The movie already logged three weeks of filming before stopping out of safety due to COVID-19.

Goldwyn joins the previously announced cast of Aunjanue Ellis as family matriarch Brandi Williams, Jon Bernthal as Rick Macci, and Saniyya Sidney (Fences, Hidden Figures) and Demi Singleton (Godfather of Harlem) who respectively play young Venus and Serena Williams.

Goldwyn’s recent credits include his guest appearance on HBO’s critically acclaimed genre series Lovecraft Country and he previously completed a run of The Inheritance on Broadway. From December 2018-April 2019, Goldwyn starred as Max Schumacher in the Broadway production of Network opposite Bryan Cranston as Howard Beale and Tatiana Maslany as Diane Christensen. Goldywn is a SAG ensemble nominee for the Oliver Stone political epic Nixon. He played the role of U.S. President Fitzgerald Grant on the ABC hit TV series Scandal for 124 episodes. His feature credits include Ghost, the Divergent franchise, The Last Samurai, Disney’s animated feature Tarzan, Kiss the Girls and The Pelican Brief among many others. Goldwyn is repped by CAA, Untitled Entertainment and Schreck Rose Dapello Adams Berlin & Dunham.

King Richard is produced by Tim White and Trevor White under their Star Thrower Entertainment banner, and Smith under his Westbrook banner. James Lassiter, Jada Pinkett Smith, Adam Merims, Lynn Harris, Jon Mone and Allan Mandelbaum are serving as EPs.

King Richard has a current theatrical release date of Nov 19, 2021.

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