Film On The Obamas' First Date Premieres At Music Box Theatre

By Kirsten Onsgard in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 19, 2016 4:04PM

If you're in need of a few first date tips, the President might have a few: with a park lunch, a movie and stopping at a community event, Barack Obama might have coerced Michelle into the best first date ever. So good, in fact, it’s been immortalized into the film Southside with You, which had its world premiere at the Music Box Theatre Thursday.

The film follows Barack Obama (Parker Sawyers), then a law associate, who is intent on wooing lawyer Michelle Robinson (Tika Sumpter)—who, in true romantic comedy fashion, insists it’s not a date. They stroll through the Art Institute, eat lunch near its fountain, attend a community event, see Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and cap it all off with ice cream and a kiss. Adorable.

"Her confidence, that she stands for who she is. She's accessible, she's fun, it seems like," Sumpter told ABC7 Chicago about what she loves about Michelle Obama.

The film was written and directed by Richard Tanne and executive produced by John Legend, who also created music for the film.

"I think it is a love story for Chicago," Legend told ABC7 Chicago at Thursday’s premiere. “It’s kind of an epic first date, so you get to see so many aspects of Chicago.”

The basic outline of the 1989 date is true, but the Obamas didn't play a role in creating the film—it's all based on publicly available information such as interviews—meaning Tanne had to fill in the gaps with his own dialogue and imagination.

"I'm sure the Obamas will be fact-checking the whole thing when they do watch it. I understand that impulse," Legend told the Sun-Times.

Supposedly the first family has a copy, and given the fact that the first family is on vacation this month, it might be the perfect time to gather the family for what we would imagine would be a very awkward movie night.

The film opens next week.