Emma Stone and Steve Carell Square Off in First Trailer for Tennis Drama ‘Battle of the Sexes’
“Tennis drama” sounds like one big snooze of a subgenre, but before you close this tab, hear me out – Battle of the Sexes ain’t just any tennis drama. The Emma Stone-Steve Carell film recounts the famous titular match where Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs on national television in 1973. And it was far more entertaining than your average round of tennis.
Battle of the Sexes stars Stone as King, who not only holds the title of a No. 1 World tennis champ, but was one of the first female athletes to come out as a lesbian. Carrell portrays Riggs who taunted King to play against him in a match, and then spewed a bunch of sexist language and made a joke of the whole thing. Too bad the joke was on him when (spoiler alert?) King beat him.
The trailer recounts just some of the nutty things that took place, like the very real time King entered the court on a rickshaw carried by half-naked male models. Andrea Riseborough makes a brief appearance as King’s girlfriend, Marilyn Barnett, and Alan Cumming, Elisabeth Shue and Sarah Silverman pop up as well.
The film comes from writer Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) and Little Miss Sunshine directors Valerie Farris and Jonathan Dayton. Here’s the first full synopsis:
The electrifying 1973 tennis match between World number one Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and ex-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) was billed as The Battle of the Sexes and became one of the most watched televised sports events of all time. The match caught the zeitgeist and sparked a global conversation on gender equality, spurring on the feminist movement. Trapped in the media glare, King and Riggs were on opposite sides of a binary argument, but off-court each was fighting more personal and complex battles. With a supportive husband urging her to fight the Establishment for equal pay, the fiercely private King was also struggling to come to terms with her own sexuality, while Riggs gambled his legacy and reputation in a bid to relive the glories of his past. Together, Billie and Bobby served up a cultural spectacle that resonated far beyond the tennis courts and animated the discussions between men and women in bedrooms and boardrooms around the world.
Battle of the Sexes hits theaters September 22. Check out the poster below: