Battle of the Sexes
Short description
Battle of the Sexes dramatizes the events surrounding a 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, staged as a contest between a woman and a man. King, the world's top-ranked player, is also fighting for women to be taken as seriously as men in her sport. Riggs, a former champion in his mid-fifties, publicly claims he could still beat the best female players, and when he challenges King, she accepts. The match becomes a media spectacle tied to the broader debate about gender equality, while both players deal with personal pressures away from the court.
The film is directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, their third feature together after Little Miss Sunshine and Ruby Sparks, from a screenplay by Simon Beaufoy. Emma Stone plays King and Steve Carell plays Riggs, with Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman and Elisabeth Shue among the supporting cast. It was released in September 2017 and runs 121 minutes.
The production had a budget of 25 million US dollars and took about 13 million worldwide, a modest return. On IMDb it holds 6.7 out of 10 from roughly 59,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.7 out of 10 from close to 2,000 votes. A critics' rating of 7.2 out of 10 from 317 reviews places it somewhat higher with reviewers than with general audiences.
What's left behind the scenes
- The love story between Billie Jean King and Marilyn Barnett is embellished in the film. In 1981, Barnett sued King, and the lawsuit nearly destroyed King's career. It took her years to recover.
- The Fox film company logo at the beginning of the film is altered to resemble the logo used in 1973.
- Emma Stone gained almost 7 kilograms of muscle mass for the filming.
- Emma Stone was initially cast as Billie Jean King, formerly the top-ranked female tennis player in the US, but her commitments to other projects forced the actress to drop out of 'Battle of the Sexes'. The role was given to Brie Larson, but she left the project a few months later. Stone's schedule had become less busy by then, and she ultimately portrayed King on screen.
- In reality, Billie Jean King was very close friends with tennis player Bobby Riggs. Their friendship lasted until his death in October 1995 at the age of 77.
- Emma Stone, who played a tennis star in the film, doesn't play tennis very well herself.
- The film only briefly touches upon the homophobic attitude of Australian tennis player Margaret Court. She suspects tennis player Billie Jean King of having an affair with a hairdresser and speaks of immorality and sin. In real life, things went even further: after finishing her sports career, Court became an activist in the anti-homosexual movement and repeatedly spoke out against same-sex marriage in Australia.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
