The film will focus on her famous 'Battle of the Sexes' match against a then 55-year-old Bobby Riggs (Ferrell) in 1973. Riggs claimed female tennis was inferior and challenged King to a match. She declined, but women's tennis top player Margaret Court accepted. Riggs beat her 6-2 6-1 thanks to his tricky use of drop shots and lobs, he then went on to taunt all female tennis players. King then accepted a lucrative financial offer to play Riggs in a nationally televised match that the promoters dubbed the "Battle of the Sexes" with 90 million worldwide audience tuning in. Having learned lessons from Court's loss, King was prepared for Riggs' game and easily beat him 6–4 6–3 6–3. Some have claimed Riggs' loss was on purpose as a way to pay off gambling debts, a claim that was quickly denied.
Steve Conrad (The Pursuit of Happyness, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) is writing the screenplay based on an article written for ESPN by Don Van Natta Jr.
Danny Boyle will call action on the film.
"Slumdog Millionaire" producer Christian Colson and writer Simon Beaufoy are also part of the project
Ferrell and Adam McKay will produce.
No comments:
Post a Comment