First pic released as Battle of the Sexes production kicks off!

Principal photography for “Battle of the Sexes” kicked off in Los Angeles today, announced Fox Searchlight Pictures.

The film stars Oscar-nominees Emma Stone (BIRDMAN, THE HELP), Steve Carell (FOXCATCHER, THE BIG SHORT), and Elisabeth Shue (LEAVING LAS VEGAS, CHASING MAVERICKS) along with Sarah Silverman (“Masters of Sex”, I SMILE BACK), Alan Cumming (“The Good Wife”, X-MEN 2), Andrea Riseborough (BIRDMAN), Eric Christian Olsen (“CSI: Los Angeles”), Natalie Morales (“The Grinder”),Austin Stowell (BRIDGE OF SPIES, WHIPLASH), Wallace Langham (RUBY SPARKS, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE), Jessica McNamee (LAST DAYS OF SUMMER), Mickey Sumner (THE END OF THE TOUR) andBill Pullman (LBJ, THE EQUALIZER).

Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, creators of the Oscar-winning LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and indie favorite RUBY SPARKS, have turned their attention to a period in 1970’s America that presaged a cultural tsunami.

The electrifying 1973 tennis match between World number one Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and ex-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) was billed as the BATTLE OF THE SEXES and became the most watched televised sports event of all time. The match caught the zeitgeist and sparked a global conversation on gender equality, spurring on the feminist movement. Trapped in the media glare, King and Riggs were on opposites sides of a binary argument, but off-court each was fighting more personal and complex battles. With a supportive husband urging her to fight the Establishment for equal pay, the fiercely private King was also struggling to come to terms with her own sexuality, while Riggs gambled his legacy and reputation in a bid to relive the glories of his past. Together, Billie and Bobby served up a cultural spectacle that resonated far beyond the tennis courts and animated the discussions between men and women in bedrooms and boardrooms around the world.

The film is being produced by Cloud Eight Films’ Christian Colson and Decibel Films’ Danny Boyle, along with Robert Graf, with a screenplay by Academy Award-winning Simon Beaufoy (SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, 127 HOURS, THE FULL MONTY). Boyle and Colson are the team behind Academy Award-winning and nominated films such as SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, 127 HOURS and STEVE JOBS. Producer Robert Graf previously collaborated with the directors on RUBY SPARKSand workedon such projects such as HAIL, CAESAR!and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.