Serena Williams was bounced from Wimbledon yesterday, but the controversial documentary about her and her sister Venus is moving ahead despite a federal lawsuit trying to block its release.
Showtime has just quietly slated Aug. 23 to premiere Maiken Baird and Michelle Major’s “Venus and Serena,” even after the United States Tennis Association filed a suit to block the film.
Making the showdown between the USTA and the filmmakers more dramatic is that the cable premiere will now take place just three days before the USTA’s US Open kicks off in Queens.
Showtime’s deal to air the film said the cable network could start showing it as soon as July 1. Until yesterday, no official air date had been scheduled. But the network has now pegged the movie’s TV premiere to the Open, where Serena will be a favorite despite her upset loss to Sabine Lisicki yesterday.
The USTA filed suit against the movie last month, seeking a permanent injunction and claiming copyright infringement. Page Six previously reported that the film’s directors went ahead with a premiere during Wimbledon in London, despite the legal action.
The film is a warts-and-all look at the Williams sisters’ careers, including a scene in which Serena explodes at a US Open line judge in 2009, telling her, “If I could, I would take this . . . ball and shove it down your . . . throat.”
The USTA’s suit claims that clip is “not in the best interest of the sport,” and a USTA source has told Page Six that the film uses “20 minutes of match play” from the US Open that the directors were not allowed to use. But producer Alex Gibney accused the USTA of censorship and said the footage falls under “fair use.” The film has also already been playing on video-on-demand.
A rep for the film applauded Showtime’s release date, commenting, “Tennis fans better hope the USTA knows more about putting on a great US Open than they do about trying to bully a leading entertainment channel with misguided censorship tactics.” A USTA rep had no comment.