Emma Stone just won her first Oscar in February, and the “La La Land” actress may be in running for the 2018 Academy Awards as well. Fox Searchlight has announced an awards-friendly release date for Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton’s “Battle of the Sexes,” Deadline reports. The film will hit theaters September 22. Stone stars in the tennis comedy alongside her “Crazy Stupid Love” co-star Steve Carell.
The film chronicles the “legendary 1973 tennis match between ex-champ/hustler Bobby Riggs and world №1 Billie Jean King,” the source summarizes. The 29-year-old King handily defeated the 55-year-old Riggs in one of the most-watched sports events of all time.
Penned by Simon Beaufoy (“Slumdog Millionaire”), “Battle of the Sexes” co-stars Elisabeth Shue (“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”), Alan Cumming (“The Good Wife”), Andrea Riseborough (“Bloodline”), Sarah Silverman (“Masters of Sex”), and Bill Pullman (“The Equalizer”).
Carell appeared in Faris and Dayton’s feature debut, 2006’s “Little Miss Sunshine.” The comedy, which follows a dysfunctional family as they embark on a road trip to a beauty pageant, received four Oscar nominations including Best Picture, and took home two trophies. The collaborators’ critically acclaimed follow-up, 2012’s “Ruby Sparks,” was written by Zoe Kazan, who also starred in the unconventional romantic comedy about a writer (Paul Dano) who writes a love interest into existence (Kazan).
There have been previous films about the King-Riggs match, including Jane Anderson’s 2001 TV movie “When Billie Beat Bobby” starring Holly Hunter, and James Erskine and Zara Hayes’ 2013 documentary “The Battle of the Sexes.” The epic rivalry between King and Riggs will be depicted by Elizabeth Banks (“Pitch Perfect” franchise) and Paul Giamatti (“Billions”) in an upcoming HBO film, and serves as the inspiration behind “Balls,” an upcoming opera from composer Laura Karpman and librettist Gail Collins.
