Attention rom-com loving Americans. The love story between Barack and Michelle Obama is coming to the big screen in a new biopic about their first date. What better love story to be told than the love story of the first family?
The romantic biopic Southside With You, will follow a historic account of what went down when the President, just a law student then, took out the future FLOTUS for the very first time in 1989.
The film will be a collaboration between indie filmmaker Richard Tanne, Tracey Bing and Hustle & Flow producer Stephanie Allain for Allain's Homegrown Pictures.
Actress Tika Sumpter will have the honor of playing Michelle Obama, adding the esteemed role to her resume, which includes TV host, singer and model. Sumpter is known for her roles in Get On Up, Ride Along and Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas. She also stars on OWN's The Haves and Have Nots. There is no news yet on who will play the young Barack Obama.
Tanne (Worst Friends) wrote an original screenplay for the biopic, alongside Sumpter, who helped develop the script and will executive produce.
Filming will begin next summer in Chicago, where the Obamas' first date really happened, as soon as the male lead is cast.
"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," said Bing. "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."
The film will follow the courtship of the Obamas, starting when the President was just a first-year Harvard Law student, who takes a summer job as an associate at the Chicago law firm Sidley Austin. This is wear he falls for his younger boss, Michelle Robinson.
But Ms. Robinson needed some convincing. Southside With You will cover the span of the day Robsinson finally agrees to go out on a date with the promising law student. As the story goes, Obama decided to take her to the Art Institute for culture and a nice lunch, before going for a long walk and then catching Spike Lee's 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 during the film's 25th anniversary celebration this summer.
The couple would eventually wed in 1992.
Watch the Obamas reminisce about their first date below.
[Photo Credit: Luke Vargas/Flickr]
