For those following the First Couple of the United States, their first date has now been turned into a film , Southside With You, that premiered at Sundance on Sunday (Jan. 24).
Its director and screenwriter is Richard Tanne, and the Obamas are played by Parker Sawyers (President of the US) and Tika Sumpter as Michelle Obama. Sumpter also co-produced the film.
The film chronicles how the Obamas visited the Art Institute of Chicago, ate a picnic lunch, watched Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing and had ice cream. Audiences will watch Barack Obama, a summer associate from Hawaii, woo his colleague Michelle - an ambitious lawyer - on a day-long date with him, despite her insistence that it is not a date.
Tanne told Vanity Fair that President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are familiar with the film. They were a little "baffled by its existence," seeing as how it was based almost entirely off of "public-domain articles, interviews, videos...just whatever I could get my hands on," Tanne said.
If the film gets released by the end of this year, it will be the only film in 2016 to feature a black female actress as lead. Tanne told Vulture that he had been thinking of telling this story since 2007 or 2008, since he observed the looks the First Couple would share; although he didn't sit down to write it till 2013. The actors and the director also shared how the audience at the film festival laughed, sobbed and wiped tears upon viewing the film.
The film comes at an important time, with the Obamas' time in the White House soon about to end.
The Obamas have reportedly not seen the film yet, with Tanne hoping to screen it for this this week, and Sumpter suggesting they could arrange for a private screening.
