Parker Sawyers, known for parts in "Zero Dark Thirty" (2012) and "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" (2014), is playing Barack Obama to Tika Sumpter’s Michelle Obama (who was Michelle Robinson at the time the story takes place), in a film based on the early romance between Barack and Michelle. 

Titled "Southside With You," the project is being sold as a "Before Sunset"-style type of film (in short… man, woman, lots of mostly profound conversation over a specified period of time), which will take place entirely in one day, set during the summer of 1989, when one Barack Obama (then a first-year Harvard Law student) took his future wife, Michelle (an associate at a Chicago law firm), out on a first date, which included a tour of Chicago’s South Side. 

The future couple also caught a screening of Spike Lee’s "Do the Right Thing" – something the president has talked about previously. I assume that moment in time will be incorporated into the script.

The film, which is currently being filmed, is directed by Richard Tanne, from his own screenplay.

Director Tanne and star Sumpter developed the script together.

Glendon Palmer, who recently joined IM Global as the leading producer/financier and international sales agency’s senior vice-president of development and production, is shepherding the project for the company. 

IM Global CEO Stuart Ford, president of production Matt Jackson, Palmer and Tracy Bing will serve as executive producers. 

First-look images above and below.