By now, the story of the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match is familiar to most casual sports fans. It pitted the 55-year-old former world No. 1 Bobby Riggs against 29-year-old pro Billie Jean King, after the former claimed that — despite being far past his prime — he could defeat any of the world’s top female tennis players. The match has been written about in books, discussed in documentaries, and soon, it will be dramatized on the big screen.
Variety is reporting that Hollywood darling Emma Stone recently closed a deal to play King in the aptly titled Battle of the Sexes and will act opposite co-star Steve Carell, who has been tapped to play the audacious, self-aggrandizing Riggs.
If you’re unfamiliar with this story, we won’t spoil the film by telling you how the match turned out, but suffice it to say that the result has been called into question and that this is far from a simple tale about a tennis match.
In fact, the details are juicy enough that there are two other dramatizations of the match currently in the works: HBO’s Proof, starring Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti, and Cherin Entertainment’s Match Maker, which has cast comedian Will Ferrell as Riggs.
There’s certainly some big-time talent revolving around this story and Searchlight reportedly considered casting rising star Brie Larson (Trainwreck) as King as well. For a time, it seems Stone was busy enough with other projects to call her availability into question, but the two sides eventually hammered out a deal.
Fans of Stone can catch the actress opposite Ryan Gosling in La La Land next summer. The Drive actor will also co-star in Carell’s next, The Big Short, which is set to hit theaters December 23, 2015.