Back in 2018, Michelle Obama published her bestseller Becoming, a memoir of her early life, motherhood, and her relationship with Barack Obama leading up to election night in 2008. Now the former First Lady is expanding her platform with new Netflix film Becoming and we’ve finally gotten a look at the first trailer for the new series.
The new series’ trailer kicks off with Michelle Obama declaring, “I am from the south side of Chicago. That tells you as much about me as you need to know.” She talks candidly about her childhood before embarking on a journey of helping other young women reach their potential. Take a look at the documentary movie below.
The new documentary series filmed the former First Lady from behind-the-scenes as she was on a 34-city tour following the publishing of her memoir, giving audiences unprecedented access to Michelle Obama during a time of transition. As the First Lady, a lot of Obama's initiatives revolved around young people, including encouraging young people to get active as well as get involved. Let's Move was a big focus during the time President Barack Obama was in office and Michelle Obama's written memoir also looks at some of these initiatives and the goals behind what she was doing.
As such, Netflix's Becoming looks to be more of a follow-up to the book than a rehash of the book Michelle Obama penned, although it seems like it would be a good introduction to Obama for those who haven't yet read the book as well. We see scenes where the former First Lady sits next to young people to hear out their ideas and struggles. There's a bent of positivity to the early look at Becoming. Obama herself shares that she believes "the energy that's out there is much better than what we see."
That's a timely message given how 2020 has been panning out. Michelle Obama has been active in recent weeks, talking to Ellen and others -- and admitting to watching a lot of Netflix -- ahead of the release of Becoming. This glimpse into her life was filmed before current world events, but it's good to know that under these circumstances her life has been pretty similar to the rest of us. OK maybe like the rest of us plus having a huge overall content deal with Netflix along with her husband Barack Obama who spent eight years in the White House. Follow-up: I wonder if this means they get free Netflix?
Previously Barack Obama explained why he and Michelle Obama wanted to work with the streaming service, noting it had to do with informational entertainment being a way to reach a wide swath of people.
We want to tell stories. This [Netflix deal] becomes a platform. We are interested in lifting people up and identifying people doing amazing work. We did this in the White House. For instance, the very first time Lin-Manuel Miranda performed the first song in Hamilton was at the White House at a poetry slam we did.
It's always pretty interesting to see what former presidents and first ladies do with their time and luckily, we won't have too much longer to wait to see Michelle Obama in action on the small screen. The new series is part of Netflix's brand new slate this month and will be out May 6. To see what else is coming to the streaming service soon, take a look at the full upcoming schedule.
