An acclaimed actress poised to portray a former First Lady seems as if it would be a match made in heaven. Oscar-winner Viola Davis stars in Showtime’s The First Ladywhere she tackles the role of Michelle Obama, and it isn’t an easy feat. During a recent chat with Entertainment Weekly, Davis spoke about the pressure she felt while researching for the part.
“My first day was a scene where we arrived at the White House and we drove up and we walked in and there was me, Viola, in the back going, ‘Holy s—‘ at just the shift and the change and the enormity of it all,” said Davis. “It was a good introduction into Michelle and Barack’s administration.”
“It definitely is not like any other job, because we’re playing iconic characters that people have ownership of, people know,” she added. “I mean, with Michelle Obama anyway, they know how she talks, how she walks, how she wears her hair, the different incarnations of her eyebrows … I didn’t feel like I could approach it like any other character.”
The First Lady premiered yesterday (April 17), and immediately, there were conversations about the “duck face” Davis was making. Clips of the series swept through social media and tens of thousands of posts—maybe more—were shared from one platform to the other. Check out the brief footage below and read through a few reactions.
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