With Emma Stone and Steve Carell already at the top of the cast, tennis drama Battle Of The Sexes is now filling in its key supporting players. Andrea Riseborough and Elisabeth Shue signed up recently, and the latest addition is Sarah Silverman.
The film, which boasts a script by Simon Beaufoy, will chronicle the rivalry between former tennis pro Bobby Riggs (Carell) and his 29-year-old opponent Billie Jean King (Stone), who hit the court for a legendary match in 1973 that (it was claimed) would establish if a female pro could ever beat a male in the sport. The event drew a huge audience of more than 50 million Americans, eager to see who would triumph.
Silverman will play Gladys Heldman, the founder of the magazine World Tennis, and a staunch supporter of King and other female players in the early 1970s.
Stone and Carell previously shared the screen in Crazy, Stupid Love, and Battle Of The Sexes also represents another reunion: Little Miss Sunshine’s Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (who worked with Carell on that film) are directing. Fox Searchlight is providing the backing, and the film should be shooting soon for a release in 2017.