Over the last few years, Danai Gurira has established an impressive big screen presence for herself over her brilliant and powerful performances as the Wakandan warrior Okoye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Now she wishes to explore the different roles that the industry has to over and dip her toes in some versatility with reference to her roles and is preparing to step out of the blockbuster world so that she can step into the shoes of a remarkable icon. The story of Shirley Chisholm, the first Black congresswoman, is now being developed as a film, and the Black Panther star is set to play the lead role.
Variety was the first one to break the news of Danai Gurira being tapped to play the titular role in The Fighting Shirley Chisholm, which is set to be directed by Cherien Dabis. Rather than being a full biopic that chronicles the entire life of its subject, the film will instead focus on one particularly key period – specifically when she was running to become the President of The United States in 1972.
She ran for president on the Democratic ticket in 1972, with the party trying to unseat incumbent Richard Nixon, and The Fighting Shirley Chisholm will explore her efforts to show voters that she would be the right candidate for the fight. The project was previous set up at Amazon Studios with Viola Davis set to play the lead role, but now it’s moving in a different direction.
