That’s what it’s like to battle people who don’t care what happens when you do.
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EMMA STONE: (As Billie Jean King) Yeah, I’m done talking.
Battle of the Sexes is undoubtedly a sports movie.
On Sept. 20, 1973, Long Beach native and women’s tennis star Billie Jean King faced off against Los Angeles native Bobby Riggs in a $100,000 winner-take-all exhibition dubbed the “Battle of the Sexes”.
As a working nurse who was also pursuing a master’s degree, Roz King did not get to watch the Battle of the Sexes.
Emma Stone, however, shines in the lead role. Their new movie is nonfiction, and imagine the position they were in.
Colbert, 53, sobered his comedic routine for a moment to share with the former First Lady the show he had hoped to film on election night, last November 8, presenting her with a bow-tied package that held the script and precious punchlines. I asked the directors if they were nervous.
Filmmaking duo Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris resisted the urge to over-dramatize the match itself, which was a slaughter. This film feels like a balm in today’s hostile political climate, and I would highly recommend it if your social justice batteries need recharging.
“It’s just little in-between stuff but that took me months to learn!”
King really did ride into the Houston Astrodome on a feather-adorned Cleopatra litter carried by four bare-chested hunks.
In many ways, “Battle of the Sexes” still carries a hopeful air.
GREENE: It’s a lovely acronym.
Emma Stone is now traveling the country promoting her new film Battle of the Sexes, and she’s been opening up about some battles of her own. When we see Stone’s King fall for her hairstylist, Marilyn Barnett (Andrea Riseborough), we see a timid King anxious to explore, but hesitant in the face of risking the achievement of her goals.
Billie Jean and eight of the other top female players in tennis left the USLTA and struck out on their own, building a new tour from scratch entirely on their own. It does – doesn’t matter.
You might even be fooled into thinking you’re watching archival footage of the real tennis match, since the actors – aided by body doubles, computers and the taped voice of original TV announcer Howard Cosell – do such a convincing job of conjuring the look and sound of the event. But I didn’t mean for it to be hormonally related in any way.
“What made it easier is Steve’s performance … setting the record straight that Bobby Riggs was a very complicated man”, Miss Shue said of her co-star. She’s so supportive, but I think it’s also really emotional because it’s so much of her. Her work here is stunning, and she fully embodies Billie Jean both emotionally and physically. For those who weren’t alive when the match took place almost 50 years ago, it’s hard to understand the magnitude of the event, and just how significant King’s victory was for women’s equality, both inside and outside the sports world.
FARIS: No, yeah. She’ll say, you know, she is a forward-thinking person. “She’s always aware of people not getting enough attention other than her”. It was hard during the process because we were nervous. Regardless of whether Riggs threw the match, King did win, and the impact her victory had on women’s tennis-and on a brief portion of the careers of Emma Stone and Steve Carell-was immeasurable. They want to be doing everything, and it’s got to stop. “[But] the women that I knew, we talked about it for weeks and weeks and weeks”. This is the lobber versus the lever. “I said, ‘Yes, I love it!” While most of the film is clever, thought provoking and endearing, there are moments throughout that feel too shallow compared to the rest. “What struck me about the match was that Billie was so much more athletic than Bobby”, Lieberman recalled. He was. But it was a lot of bluster.
She said it was a “super challenging” experience. What do you make of that? There’s just so many theatrics one can handle from a character. These things keep coming up, and the issues that we’re dealing with in the film are – I don’t think they’re ever going to actually be completely resolved.
“This is me, I guess”. I would never have been able to call him out.
While “Battle of the Sexes” offers a happy ending, it still boasts themes that are heartbreakingly relevant considering the movie takes place 34 years ago.
DAYTON: It’s a light skirmish. And we would be arguing about a point.
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“You start to realize that every generation has to start over – fighting for equality”. Carell brings all of his well-honed physical comedy skills to the role; he’s delightful when he recreates Riggs’ pre-game antics (which include playing tennis when dressed as Little Bo Peep, complete with sheep).
