Yes to All of This! Viola Davis transforms into a picture-perfect Michelle Obama in Showtime’s ‘The First Lady’
Viola Davis recreates Michelle Obama’s pose for her official portrait created by artist Amy Sherald for Showtime’s ‘The First Lady’
By EEW Magazine Entertainment Editors // Television
Viola Davis has us seeing double, as she embodies the essence of First Lady Michelle Obama in the newly released trailer for Showtime's The First Lady — and we say yes to all of this!
The smirk, the energy, the vibe, the strength, the brows, and honey, the sheer Black Girl Magic of it all can only be captured in this picture-perfect manner by the A-list Oscar winner who always brings her magnetism and spot-on portrayals to big and small screens.
Showtime
Aside from Davis, the series features Michelle Pfeiffer and Gillian Anderson transforming into Betty Ford and Eleanor Roosevelt, respectively.
"In four years, I don't want to look back and think, 'What did I become living in that house?'" ponders Davis as Obama in a vulnerable moment while resting her head on the thigh of President Barack Obama, portrayed by actor O-T Fagbenle (“The Handmaid’s Tale”).
Lexi Underwood (“Little Fires Everywhere”) and Saniyya Sidney (“King Richard”) play their daughters, Malia and Sasha Obama.
Showtime
The series aims to tell the stories of the powerful women that lead alongside their presidential husbands, the then leaders of the free world. In one scene, Lady Obama, an Ivy League graduate and lawyer, is told by President Obama, “I can’t have you backseat driving.”
Quickly showing that she is no doormat and is insistent upon self-defining, Davis as Obama scoffs as she says, “They want to turn me into a Black Martha Stewart?”
Showtime
In another clip Obama asserts herself again, saying, “I will pick my team, choose my causes, understood?
Understood.
In The First Lady, set to premiere on Showtime April 17, Davis recreates Obama's pose for the presidential portrait created by artist Amy Sherald, and peels back the curtain on what it was really like for the Becoming author who spent eight years at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, America’s most famous address.
Produced for Showtime by Lionsgate Television, the 10-episode series, created by Aaron Cooley, is executive produced by Oscar winner Cathy Schulman (“Crash”), who also serves as showrunner. Oscar and Emmy winner Susanne Bier (“The Undoing”) executive produces and directs all of Season 1.
Cathy Schulman, via her Welle Entertainment, executive produces along with Bier, JuVee Productions’ Viola Davis, Julius Tennon and Andrew Wang, Cooley, Pavlina Hatoupis, Alyson Feltes, Jeff Gaspin via Gaspin Media and Brad Kaplan via Link Entertainment.
Watch the trailer below.
