Andrea Riseborough to join Emma Stone in “Battle of the Sexes”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Andrea Riseborough is in final negotiations to co-star with Emma Stone in Fox Searchlight’s “Battle of the Sexes”, sources tell Variety.

Stone will play Billie Jean King in the pic and Steve Carell stars as Bobbie Riggs. Riseborough will play Marilyn Barnett, the hairdresser and former lover who outed King in 1981.

“Little Miss Sunshine” filmmakers Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris will direct from a script by Simon Beaufoy. Danny Boyle is producing under his Decibel Films banner along with Christian Colson and his company Cloud Eight.

The competition between King and Riggs captured the zeitgeist back in 1973, when at 29, the No. 2 ranked King beat the 55-year-old retired former Wimbledon champion Riggs.

“Battle of the Sexes” is one of three projects revolving around the infamous tennis match; the other two are HBO and Playtone’s “Proof,” which stars Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti, and Chernin Entertainment and Gary Sanchez’s “Match Maker” with Steve Conrad writing and Will Ferrell attached to play Riggs.

Riseborough has been on the rise for some time with leading roles in “Oblivion” and most recently “Birdman.” She also had a key role on Netflix’s “Bloodline.”