After her outstanding performance as Kizzy Kinte in A&E Network‘s Roots remake, Anika Noni Rose is now the producer and star in a movie about Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.
Viola Davis, who is well known for her starring role in How To Get Away With Murder, was the original actress scheduled to star in the film when it was announced in 2010.
Shadow and Act revealed the details on the premise of the film and the production team:
Portrayed by Tony Award-Winning Actress, Anika Noni Rose, Chisholm embodies the keen sense of justice and community, embracing her fold like a warrior. Always meticulously dressed, pearls in place, watched adjusted to the second, Congresswoman Chisholm metamorphosed to do America’s business. With a colorful team of cohorts by her side, Congresswoman Chisholm personifies the bold educated Brooklynite with her roots firmly planted in her Caribbean heritage, hurdling humongous odds in a system structured for whites and males only.
With an efficient producing team, Creative Monster Production’s Bryan Gambogi (Blue Jasmine/King of Beasts Documentary), Grant Anderson (Green Hornet), Debbie Brubaker (Big Eyes), Barbara Bullard, social innovator, and an award-winning writing team, Armistead Johnson and Montserrat Mendez, Chisholm will be eloquently developed changing the paradigm of how we ourselves can be a ‘Catalyst for Change.
During 1968, Chisholm was the first African-American woman to be elected in Congress. She represented New York’s 12th Congressional District for seven terms which were from 1969 to 1983.
Chisholm made another mark in history in 1972 when she became the first major party African-American candidate to run for the President of the United States, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s Presidential Nomination.
