It was a sensation. Back in the early 1970s, there was no greater female tennis player in the world (perhaps in history) than Billie Jean King. She was also a warrior for feminism and a trailblazer in a number of different arenas. Then, there was Bobby Riggs. More of a showman than a sizzler on the court, he took it upon himself to push back for mankind against the advances of the feminist movement and challenge King to a tennis match to prove once and for all that men are better than women.
Let’s go to the tape and see how that went!
Well, we can do one better. Fox Searchlight has released the first trailer for what appears to be an early Oscar front runner, Battle of the Sexes.
The film chronicles that lead up to the big tennis match, as well as the societal context for this extremely important game that was much more than a sports event.
It was also a benchmark for social advancement in America and the world at large.
Oscar winner (for La La Land) Emma Stone stars as King and Oscar nominee Steve Carell plays the bombastic Riggs in the film that reunites Carell with his Little Miss Sunshine creators, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.
The world watched with bated breath in 1973 as the tennis world’s number one (King) battled the ex-champion Riggs and look to Battle of the Sexes to put the whole thing in one astounding larger context when it takes its volley into theaters on September 22.
The film also stars Sarah Silverman, Elisabeth Shue, Andrea Riseborough, Alan Cumming, Eric Christian Olsen, Natalie Morales, Austin Stowell, Wallace Langham, Jessica McNamee, Mickey Sumner and Bill Pullman.