As Barack Obama prepares for his final year in office, there's been more than a few features and articles about how he went from a lawyer in Chicago to the leader of the free world.
However, his first date with Michelle Obama - nee LaVaughn Robinson - is now the subject of a new film by first-time director Richard Tanne. Speaking at the film's premiere, the director spoke about the film and whether or not Barack and Michelle are aware of the film.
"They are excited. And they are also a little baffled by its existence," Tanne explained. The information he gathered to write the script was, according to Tanne, culled from publicly-available information.
"They went to the art institute. They had lunch afterwards. They saw Do the Right Thing. They had ice cream. They kissed outside the ice cream parlor, at Baskin-Robbins... There was some question as to whether or not the community organizing meeting happened on the first date, or if it just happened early in the courtship but dramatically it worked, so I just put it in. Again, it's a fictionalized account, so I tried to be as authentic as possible," explained Tanne.
For the most part, early reviews of Southside With You are positive. Collider says the film "charms more often than not and is ultimately a very sweet movie," whilst Variety has called Southside With You "disarmingly romantic."
As for the cast, newcomer Parker Sawyer's performance as Barack Obama allows him "to depict a rarely seen sensual side of President Obama: confident, relaxed, relentlessly flirty, and given to shooting hungry glances at his future wife," according to Daily Beast.
It's not yet known if the film will receive an Irish release date, however it's understood to be released wide later in 2016 across the US.
