Aaron Sorkin is coming out of the gates guns blazing for his official directorial debut in Molly’s Game.
Based on the memoir by Molly Bloom, the film stars Jessica Chastain as an Olympic world class skier who ran one of the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker games for an entire decade before being arrested by gun-wielding FBI agents in the middle of the night. Bloom hosted a many number of exclusive clientele that included movie stars, sports stars, business tycoons, and not to her knowledge, members of the Russian mob. Pressured by authorities to give up her guest list, Bloom held firm with the only ally she could name, her defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey.
Also starring in the film is Idris Elba as Jaffey, in addition to Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Brian D’Arcy James (Dunkirk), Rachel Skarsten (TV’s Reign), Joe Keery (Netflix’s Stranger Things), and Graham Greene (The Green Mile).
Sorkin is quite known for hard-hitting drama, being the creator and writer for the HBO series The Newsroom. Sorkin is an Oscar-winner for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Social Network, and has been nominated for various writing awards for Moneyball, A Few Good Men, Steve Jobs, Charlie Wilson’s War, and An American President (1995). It will be quite exciting and intriguing to see how his layered and dynamic writing will translate for Sorkin visually. With great talent like Chastain, Elba, and Kostner at his back, Sorkin most definitely has a head start.
Check out the official first trailer for Molly’s Game below. The film is headed to the Toronto Film Festival next month before it hits theaters on November 22.