'Southside with You' stars speak about new film

CHICAGO (WLS) -- "Southside with You" is a new movie that open Friday and tells the story of Barack Obama's first date with the woman who would become his wife.

Eyewitness News Reporter Janet Davies spoke to the young actors who play the future first couple.

Davies asks, "First time you saw him, were you amazed how much he really did look like Barack Obama?"

"Yeah, I saw his tape and I thought, oh, for sure. And then when he walked in the room and we did our screen test it was surreal and he walked out and we were all kind of quiet like we knew it was him, I was like hire him," actress Tika Sumpter said.

Davies asked, "You got the patterns down, the movements, the feel, a lot of watching TV reports?"

"Yeah for me a little bit it started with mimicry, impersonation and then working that back just to play a guy trying to get a girl in the summertime, but yeah, definitely it was like living, embodying him, getting the essence," actor Parker Sawyers said.

"The way that people appreciate the film like, wow, look what we created, it's really exhilarating."

Davies asked, "Neither one of you are from Chicago, so what did you feel about the city, think about the city - their city?"

"We love it, we love it here, the support from the community from this area down to the Southside, it was wonderful," Saywers said.

"They embraced us and called out, yelling "Hey Michelle, Hey Barack!" It was cute, we loved it, we thank Chicago for letting us do this," Sumpter said.