Matt Dinerstein/Courtesy of Miramax and Roadside Attractions(NEW YORK) — Tika Sumpter is pulling double-duty as producer and star in Southside with You, inspired by the first date between Barack Obama and his future wife, Michelle Robinson.
Sumpter, who plays the young Michelle Robinson in the summer of 1989, says she and co-star Parker Sawyers, who plays a young Barack, were “really excited” to play the first family and not stressed as you might believe.
“We were just in the moment,” Sumpter tells ABC News Radio. “And it is also when they were 25 and 28, so the pressure was just taken off — it’s not the Obamas of it all.”
Sumpter, who was instrumental in bringing the film to life with writer-director Richard Tanne, says her role as co-producer wasn’t easy, but it eventually clicked once the film was cast.
“It was challenging because you have to put the pieces together in order for you to even be on set…but…once we found our Barack in Parker, it was great. We were on a roll,” she says.
The former Gossip Girl actress admits she was a bit insecure about playing Michelle — specifically, sounding like her. Sumpter tells ABC Radio, “I got a dialect coach and really worked on that. And it was important for people if they closed their eyes they could really hear her and that is what was important to me.”
In the end, says Sumpter, Southside with You is a first date love story that anyone can identify with: “Both of the characters are humanized, you’re going to see Barak smoke, you’re going to see the car. You’re going to see them banter back and forth, challenge each other… I think it’s a great date movie.”
Southside with You opens nationally today.
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