Aaron Sorkin is mere weeks away from making his cinematic directorial debut with poker biopic Molly's Game, which already stars Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba. He's now in the process of finding more castmembers, and has Kevin Costner in talks to join the movie.
Molly's Game, subtitled From Hollywood’s Elite To Wall Street’s Billionaire Boys Club, My High-Stakes Adventure In The World Of Underground Poker, is the memoir of Molly Bloom, whose story is a fascinating one. A world-class skier since she could walk, she became a nationally ranked business mogul at 21 while still excelling in college. She just missed out on joining the Olympic team upon graduating and took a year off to live in Los Angeles, choosing the unlikely path of waitressing. Thanks to her business acumen, she ended up making millions by running the world’s most exclusive high stakes poker game for eight years before the FBI came calling. The reason? Unbeknownst to her, some of her players had ties to the Russian mob.
Chastain will be Molly, while Elba is on to play her defence lawyer.
Deadline cautions that Costner is still hammering out his deal for the film, and may not end up signing on. But he's circling the role of Bloom's father. Sorkin is set to start the cameras rolling next month. Costner, meanwhile, will be seen in another true-life tale, NASA-based pic Hidden Figures, which will be out in the UK on 24 February.