Back In April, it was announced that Steve Carell would be up against former on-screen daughter Emma Stone in tennis pic Battle Of The Sexes. A date change means Stone can’t now take part, but Carell won’t have to hit tennis balls against a wall – he’s now facing Brie Larson.
The film, which boasts a script by Simon Beaufoy, will chronicle the rivalry between former tennis pro Bobby Riggs and his 29-year-old opponent Billie Jean King (Larson), 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.
**Little Miss Sunshine **directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris are calling the shots (and the points) for this one, which will itself be competing with project from HBO (Proof, with Paul Giamatti and Elizabeth Banks playing the real-life tennis pros) and Match Maker, which boasts Will Ferrell as Riggs, but lacks a King for now).
It’s just the latest project for Larson, who is drawing awards talk for Room (arriving here January 29), will also be seen in Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire and is headed on an exploratory voyage in Kong: Skull Island, which starts shooting later this year.