Serena Williams & Will Smith reveal delight at King Richard’s Oscar nominations

Serena and Venus Williams have both expressed their delight after the biographical drama of their lives “King Richard” was nominated for six Academy Awards. 

King Richard follows the life of Serena and Venus’ father Richard as he aspires to turn his daughters into professional tennis players. 

The film, which features Will Smith as the Williams sisters’ inspiring father, has been nominated for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, Best Film Editing, Best Original Song and a Best Actor nomination for Smith. 

This is the third time Smith has been nominated for Best Actor, following his recognition in 2002 for the film Ali and in 2007 for The Pursuit of Happyness. 

Critics lauded the movie upon its release and the biopic currently has an approval rating of 90 percent on the film review site Rotten Tomatoes. 

“This is a moment we won’t forget,” tweeted the official King Richard account. 

“Our #KingRichard family has been nominated by the @TheAcademy for [six] awards including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Song.”

Meanwhile, Serena and Venus also took to social media to voice their pleasure at the film being Oscar-nominated. 

Taking to Instagram, Serena wrote: “I woke up to this. Our film is really nominated for an OSCAR!!!!!!! This is CRAZY!!!!!!! From Compton to Wimbledon to Academy awards. Everyone can dream. And your dream can come true. Ok, I am definitely crying this morning. Congrats to the entire film and crew.”

A whole host of celebrities were quick to comment on Serena’s post, including reality TV star Kim Kardashian and American football legend Tom Brady. 

Kardashian, who is a good friend of Serena’s and even attended the tennis star’s wedding, replied to Williams by posting fire and clapping emojis. 

Similarly, recently retired quarterback Brady commented: “Amazing, wow congrats.” 

Venus also took to Instagram to voice her excitement and shared a video on her story.

“You guys may have heard the great news but our film King Richard has been nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. 

“So thank you Academy Awards for including us and honouring my dad and this film we’ve worked on as a family.” 

Smith echoed the thoughts of both Williams sisters and congratulated the cast, including Beyonce, whose record “Be Alive” was nominated for Best Original Song. 

“WOW!! 6 Oscar noms for #kingrichard.. that’s CRAZY,” he said. “Honored to see this outpouring of love for our film 🙂 Proud of you Aunjanue, Zach, Pamela, Dixson, Beyoncé and our fantastic cast and crew. Great work all!”

Reference: Give Me Sport:Olly Roberts