"Rick Macci and Richard Williams had not spoken for 20 years before this movie came out, and now they're reunited" - King Richard screenwriter
In the latest episode of Craig Shapiro's eponymous tennis podcast, Zach Baylin, the screenwriter for the Academy Award-nominated film King Richard, spoke at length about the creative process that went into the making of the movie.
Baylin, who was nominated for Best Original Screenplay for the biographical film which follows the formative years of Venus and Serena Williams, also discussed the relationship between Richard Williams, the champion duo's father, and Rick Macci, one of their first coaches.
Baylin said Richard Williams and Rick Macci shared a complicated relationship as the former was seeking help from other coaches and hitting partners even when his daughters were enrolled at Macci's academy full time.
"We don't quite get into it," Baylin said. "There was, once they got down to Macci's, you know, in the early 90s and they were there ultimately, like cumulatively, they were there for for three or four years."
"But during that time, Richard, at one point, pulled them out, and you know, that's alluded to, in the movie. Richard would hire his own hitting coaches to come and like practice with the girls kind of behind Rick's back," he continued.
Baylin did, however, reveal that Williams and Macci reconnected shortly after the release of the film despite not having spoken to each other for nearly 20 years.
Discussing the duo's initial fallout, the screenwriter said Williams, according to him, had a vision for his daughters' careers that might have been different from Macci's.
"And, you know, I think, they have a, I've heard of voicemail at Rick left the producer yesterday and like, you know," Baylin said. "Rick and Richard had not spoken for 20 years before this movie came out and now they're like, they're reunited, it's amazing."
"But yeah, I mean, I think that Richard in a lot of ways was, I think he, I think he really loved Rick, but I also think that he was never going to put Rick's needs, desires in front of his own."
Rick Macci shares photograph with Richard Williams
Shapiro, the podcast's host, also recalled a conversation with Rick Macci, wherein he discussed his relationship with Richard Williams. Shapiro said the 67-year-old clarified that things between him and Williams weren't as bad as what was being portrayed.
"Rick keeps saying he's my best friend," Shapiro said. "I said Rick. How can he be your best friend? It seems like he really stuck it to you. He said 'No no man, you know, it wasn't like that.' And I was like, okay,"
Macci recently took to social media to post a photograph of himself and Richard Williams at his tennis academy. The 67-year-old acknowledged that it was his first meeting with Williams on a tennis court in more than two decades.
"The dynamic duo that changed history! On the court together for the first time since 1995," Macci wrote on Instagram.