“I’m Molly Bloom. Do you know about me?” a confident Jessica Chastain asks an unimpressed Idris Elba in the new teaser for “Molly’s Game.” If he doesn’t, he will soon. You see, at the age of 26, Molly started a high-stakes poker game for “the richest, most famous, most powerful men in the world.” The game is so select that Molly charges $250,000 for first buy-ins and accepts original Monet paintings as collateral.
Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin (“The West Wing,” “Steve Jobs”), “Molly’s Game” is based on the real-life story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic skier turned entrepreneur, exclusive poker game host, and FBI target. Bloom’s players “included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans, and finally, unbeknownst to her, the Russian mob,” the film’s synopsis details.
Chastain recently served as a jury member at the Cannes Film Festival, where she commented on the lack of satisfying representation for women in film. “This is the first time I watched 20 films in 10 days, and what I really took away from this experience is how the world views women,” Chastain said. “It was quite disturbing to me, to be honest.”
She added, “I think if we include more female storytellers, I hope we have more women that I see in my own day-to-day life. They just don’t react to the men around them. They have their own point-of-view.”
Earlier this year Chastain starred as Antonina Żabińska, who helped save hundreds of Polish Jews during WWII, in Niki Caro’s “The Zookeeper’s Wife.” Next, she will play Catherine Weldon, a painter who becomes involved in the Lakota people’s fight to preserve their land, in Susanna White’s “Woman Walks Ahead.” The drama will make its world premiere next month at TIFF.
Sorkin’s next female-led project is Amazon’s untitled Lucille Ball biopic starring Cate Blanchett.
Co-starring Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, and Chris O’Dowd, “Molly’s Game” hits theaters November 22, 2017.
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