Obamas' love blooms in 'Southside With You'
"Southside With You," the feature film based on Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson's first date, debuted Sunday to a packed house at the Sundance Film Festival.
The movie tells the story of a single day in 1989 — the first day that summer associate, Harvard student Barack Obama (Parker Sawyers), spent with his adviser, Michelle Robinson (Tika Sumpter), a second-year associate with a Chicago corporate law firm.
By the end of a day that moves from The Art Institute of Chicago to a picnic lunch to a community organizing meeting, sharing beers and the then-newly released Spike Lee film "Do the Right Thing," they're both on the same page.
Director and screenwriter Richard Tanne says though the movie is fictionalized, he researched what actually happened on the date from news articles and books.