Michelle Obama has been making the press rounds to promote her new Netflix series Waffles + Mochi, where she opened up about another project.
Showtime announced last February, just weeks before the COVID-19 lockdown, that Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis will portray Obama in Showtime’s The First Lady.
While it’s unclear when the show will debut yet, Obama told Entertainment Tonight that she felt she wasn’t ‘worthy’ of Davis portraying her.
Not worthy: While it’s unclear when the show will debut yet, Obama told Entertainment Tonight that she felt she wasn’t ‘worthy’ of Davis portraying her
Announced: Showtime announced last February, just weeks before the COVID-19 lockdown, that Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis will portray Obama in Showtime’s The First Lady
‘Viola Davis is the greatest, OK? I feel that I’m not worthy,’ the First Lady said during the interview.
‘I wish I could be better to live up to the character that Viola has to play, but it’s exciting,’ Obama added.
‘Anything Viola does, she does it with passion and vigor, and I know she will do no less for this role,’ she concluded.
Not worthy: ‘Viola Davis is the greatest, OK? I feel that I’m not worthy,’ the First Lady said during the interview
Davis was the first actress cast in The First Ladies back in August 2019, with Michelle Pfeiffer signing on as Betty Ford and Gillian Anderson playing Eleanor Roosevelt.
The anthology series will focus on those three First Ladies, with the show described as, ‘a revelatory reframing of American leadership, told through the lens of the women at the heart of the White House.’
After Davis was cast as Obama, she opened up about the First Lady in an interview with ET back in September 2019.
Cast: Davis was the first actress cast in The First Ladies back in August 2019, with Michelle Pfeiffer signing on as Betty Ford and Gillian Anderson playing Eleanor Roosevelt
‘She’s smart. She’s confident. She’s articulate. She believes in sisterhood,’ Davis said at the time.
‘I wanna honor her. I wanna honor her with this portrayal because that’s what drama is,’ she added.
‘That’s what we do as actors, we want to honor the human being. We don’t want to give a portrayal that isn’t easy for people to swallow,’ Davis concluded.
Confident: ‘She’s smart. She’s confident. She’s articulate. She believes in sisterhood,’ Davis said at the time
Obama and her husband, President Barack Obama, signed a production deal with Netflix to produce movies and TV shows for the streaming service, with Waffles + Mochi the first to debut, premiering on Tuesday.
Their company, Higher Ground Productions, also unveiled a number of projects last month, including Exit West, starring Riz Ahmed (The Sound of Metal).
Other projects include Firekeeper’s Daughter from Mickey Fisher (Reverie, Extant), and Tenzig, based on the life of the Tenzig Norgay, who, along with Sir Edmund Hillary, were the first to reach the summit of Mt. Everest.
Production: Obama and her husband, President Barack Obama, signed a production deal with Netflix to produce movies and TV shows for the streaming service, with Waffles + Mochi the first to debut, premiering on Tuesday
