Fox Searchlight has released the first trailer and one-sheet for their Steve Carell–Emma Stone reteam, Battle of the Sexes. The pair are starring as tennis pros Bobby Riggs and Billy Jean King who went head to head in 1973 in one of the most watched televised sports matches in history. The film was directed by another male/female duo, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine).
King was at the top of her game at the time, being the World number one, as well as a prominent figure in the feminist movement. Riggs, a former champ and serial hustler, was on the other side of the coin as a has-been and a pompous white male; and as the trailer makes clear, he saw their match as an opportunity for sensational television. It was an athletic match brewing with the undertones of male v. female and young v. old that would come to represent the era’s zeitgeist in social issues.
Carell and Stone equally seem to be at the top of their game, with the latter taking on the responsibility of another outlandish role (The Office, Foxcatcher) and Stone imbuing her signature charm to a landmark historical and celebrity persona. Battle of the Sexes also stars Elisabeth Shue, Alan Cumming, Andrea Riseborough, Natalie Morales, Bill Pullman, Sarah Silverman, Austin Stowell, Fred Armisen, and Eric Christian Olsen.
Battle of the Sexes hits theaters on September 22. Check out the trailer and poster below.
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