In his directorial debut, award winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin details the remarkable true story of [] Sorkin stated that "the casting of Jessica and Idris in the two lead roles is any filmmaker's dream come true, they're two of the greatest actors of their generation, paired for the first time, and their chemistry will be electric. He flipped it over a couple times in his fingers. Curtis claims Bloom was not the mastermind she purported to be and that she was primarily there to deflect attention so that he and Maguire could win millions without spooking their pals. . In Molly Blooms high roller poker games, Tobey Maguire was a big jerk, Leonardo DiCaprio wore giant headphones, and Alex Rodriguez just liked to watch. Interestingly, the fictional law firm Jaffey works for, Gage Whitney, has made several appearances in Sorkins work, including in The West Wing and Studio 60. As she is about to return to her poker games, the FBI raids, as Douglas Downey, a player infatuated with her, informs on her. Reading the book and watching the movie, its pretty easy to determine that Player X is actually the OG Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire. I didnt like this. Two years later, Molly has published a book, naming only a few individuals that played in her games. "Ultimately, it got to $250,000," Molly Bloom said during an interview on Ellen. In the book Molly's Game, it's never a secret that this nefarious gambler is none other than Spider-Man actor Tobey Maguire. [13] On February 18, 2016, Sony exited the project,[14] and on May 13, 2016, STX Entertainment came on board, and subsequently bought the film's US and Chinese distribution rights for $9 million. Molly's Game is a 2017 American biographical crime drama film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin (in his directorial debut), based on the 2014 memoir of the same name by Molly Bloom. Following a move to New York, a run-in with the mafia, drug addiction, and a major court case, the FBI eventually shut Bloom down. While she is in NYC awaiting trial, her father Larry seeks her out and attempts to reconcile. Portrayed by Jeremy Strong in the Molly's Game movie and referred to as Reardon Green in the book, Molly's boss, Darin Feinstein, wasn't the most pleasant of men. Creditors placed a lien on his home. Expand your knowledge of the Molly's Game true story by watching the Molly Bloom interview below. Molly's Game is based on the true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons. She has experience in editorial working as the deputy editor for Specialty Food, an online and print magazine, curating its news section and social media. -Vice, In 2014, Bloom, who was 36 at the time, was cleared of a number of the charges she was facing and was sentenced to one year probation, 200 hours of community service, and a $1,000 fine. a man whom she gives the pseudonym Dean Keith. Bloom herself was the one to approach Sorkin, rather than the other way around. When Maguire invited Curtis to the actors Hollywood Hills home for a game in which players included lawyer Jon Moonves and billionaire scion Kevin Washington Curtis played it straight and was careful not to win too much. The Mollys Game endingbrings her and her father together, where he finally acts the part of supportive parent before her trial. role name; Molly Bloom: Jessica Chastain: Charlie Jaffey: Idris Elba: Father: Kevin Costner: Player X: Michael Cera: Dean Keith: Jeremy Strong: Douglas Downey: Chris . Bloom made her money on the tips she got from players, which, as the games buy-ins increased, grew larger and larger. (Lalibert did not return requests for comment.). He roughed her up and threatened her family. Her fathers overbearing insistence on excellence, her skiing career and accident, and her start as a waitress make appearances both in Blooms memoir and in interviews with the ex Poker Princess. 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And when your movie is based on the memoir of the same name by Molly Bloom, who ran a real-life underground poker scene for the wealthy elite in the late 2000s, it isnt very hard to convert that speculation into something tangible. She became known as the "Poker Princess.". Im not kidding. As Chastains Bloom points out, this is usury. It stars Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O'Dowd, Joe Keery, Brian D'Arcy James, and Bill Camp . No. In her time running the game, Bloom crossed paths with A-listers like Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, Nelly, and even Alex Rodriguez, so there are many sources of inspiration for Player X, played by a twitchy Michael Cera in Mollys Game. I pulled him aside to show him the board. You can almost picture him on the sidelines, in a turtleneck sweater, gleefully reacting to folded hands and rivers. The Molly's Game (2017 Film) Community Note includes chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quizzes written by community members like you. Molly's Game 2017 | Maturity rating: 15 | 2h 20m | Films Based on Real Life A former Olympic skier begins running a high-stakes, ultra-exclusive underground poker game that catches the attention of the FBI. Some people just didnt have the stomach for those stakes.. Buy 9.99. She enlists Charlie Jaffey's help, a high-profile, expensive lawyer in New York, who agrees to help after learning she has been protecting innocent people affected by her poker games. Shannon Lewis is a features and news writer on Screen Rant. Broken, beaten and abandoned, Curtis received a lifeline of $15,000 from Moonves and found a ride to Illinois, where he went to live with his mother. The judge, deciding that she had committed no serious crimes, sentences her to 200 hours community service, one year probation, and a $200,000 fine. Bloom was deposed in the bankruptcy case, but nobody was arrested as a result of the LA game since no laws had been broken. Her players also begin to include wealthy individuals from the Russian mafia, among others. No. Until everything crashed down hard, they pulled it off, putting together the biggest game that Hollywood has ever seen. Admitted card cheat Houston Curtis has written a book about founding the game with Maguire and how wild things became. To add insult to injury, Tobey then victoriously showed his bluff. Screenwriter/director Aaron Sorkin consulted Molly throughout the screenwriting process. But, Curtis writes, neither the movie nor Blooms own memoir tells the true story of the LA game. Bloom had no comment.). In an interview with Vice about the film, Bloom said: [Sorkin] didnt deviate from the truth. MOLLY'S GAME is the true story of Molly Bloom a beautiful, young, Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons. Like in the movie, her boss fired her from his game, so she decided to utilize the contacts she made to start up a poker game of her own. That morning, heading home on autopilot, Curtis received a call from Maguire: He said he wanted to make sure I wasnt driving off a cliff. Aaron Sorkin was hired to adapt the memoir into a screenplay. Sorkin said he wanted to be able to fictionalize the character to best serve the story and not have to worry about keeping him historically accurate. Chris O'Dowd. After Molly berates him for his unethicality, Player X decides to change venue for his games, and the others join him, leaving Molly. Celebrities were brought in to add glamour and, occasionally, serve as collateral damage. The scene in the movie when he yells at Molly (Jessica Chastain) for buying "poor people bagels" is real, according to her memoir. As based on the book by Molly Bloom, Molly's Game shows what happens to Molly (played by Jessica Chastain), . The Hollywood Reporter also stated: "Sorkin keeps things rolling relentlessly and gets fine results from the actors down the line []. How it plays out in the movie: Initially, Bloom didnt take a rakea percentage of the pot in handswhich made the questionable legality of running the poker games a little less questionable. His opponent had gotten confused. I had five years to live.. The celebrities who played in Molly Bloom's poker games included (clockwise from top left): Tobey Maguire, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Alex Rodriguez, Macaulay Culkin, Ben Affleck and Pete Sampras. Salomon is probably best known for the sex tape he made with then-girlfriend Paris Hilton in 2004, but hes a big-time poker player in his own right: He won $2.8 million at the 2014 World Series of Poker's Big One for One Drop event. So in 2005, the game moved to The Viper Room, the Sunset Strip nightclub where River Phoenix fatally overdosed in 1993. and "What do they eat?" RRR Deserves to Make Oscar History. . The investors claimed the celebrities had won cash from Ruderman that belonged to them. A half-century ago, Pink Floyd unleashed a classic that still lingers on the Billboard charts and in college dorms to this day. Give Naatu Naatu Best Original Song. Affleck wrote the check., (Reps for Maguire, Meyer, Affleck, Damon and DiCaprio did not return requests for comment. I know! he said. When A-Rod appeared, tall, handsome, and very polite, the heads jerked up from the table. Her only ally was criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey, who learned there was much more to Molly than poker. There was a tiny nagging voice in the back of my head that was telling me that Tobey being unhappy spelled trouble for me, but I tried to stay focused. The club had been partly owned by Johnny Depp from its opening in 1993 until 2004. Washington D.C. 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I recognized in that instant that this is not an opportunity that a girl from a small town in Colorado gets. "But I wrote the checkwhat are you going to do?" It is adapted from eponymous the biographical memoir of Molly Bloom, an entrepreneur, speaker, and author. There were Wall Street titans. There, she begins working as a cocktail waitress and then an assistant to a Hollywood insider, Dean Keith (Jeremy Strong, nice and sleazy), who soon has Molly running his weekly poker night out of . Hey, yo, did that Jennifer Lopezs ass have cellulite on it, or was it nice?. Her mother's sacrifice helped inspire her to write the book. He was crass and dirty, but he was still hot in a caveman kind of way. Plus, does starting Tyrese Maxey versus DeAnthony Melton make a difference on the defensive end? Are the Lakers dead? Hailing from Queretaro, Mexico, she is a graduate of the University of East Anglia's English Literature with Creative Writing program. An avid reader and fan of writing, she leverages her love of literature to dissect movies in her favorite genres, including horror, rom-coms, and superhero movies. And, since Tobey was a vegan, it really bothered him when people ordered pepperoni pizzas. I saw the wheels turning. Douglas Downey. -USA Today, Molly is using her networking experience to reach fellow women and help them become successful. The guys included billionaires who had everything but fame. He had taken to criticizing me about everything under the sun, especially how much I was making in my role. Tobey Maguire wanted to take down Hollywood. One-thousand dollars was his insult tip.. However, as seeninseries and movies like The Newsroom,Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Steve Jobs, Moneyball, Molly's Game, and A Few Good Men-all based on real events - Sorkin's unique dialogue only serves to further enhance and deepen the way audiences appreciate and understand true stories. Wanna fuck?. He had a strange style at the table, though; it was almost as if he wasnt trying to win or lose. I thought that was reasonable, said Curtis. However, because the book was published between Mollys arrest and sentencing, it is unlikely Jaffey (or his equivalent) would have had time to do this in real life. In her book, Bloom only mentions the celebrities who had already been outed in the media prior to the book being published. Mollys Game features a star-studded cast, with Jessica Chastain in the titular role, Idris Elba as lawyer Charlie Jaffey, Kevin Costner as father Larry Bloom, and Michael Cera as the nasty Player X. In an episode of the hit reality-basedcomedy30 Rock, in which Sorkin also has a cameo, this style has been lovingly referred to by Tina Fey's Liz Lemon as "Sorkin-esque repartee." Im going to make ten million this year on poker! Tobey once exclaimed, not knowing that I knew that Houston had told me about the alleged arrangement they had. 'Molly's Game' Team Talks Making Timely Tale of Female Empowerment The Aaron Sorkin-written and -directed film stars Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner and Michael Cera, who reveals. While taking the year off between undergrad and presumably law school, Molly went to LA in 2003 and began working a number of different jobs, including as a cocktail waitress and an executive assistant to real estate entrepreneur Darin Feinstein, one of the co-owners of the Hollywood nightclub The Viper Room (renamed The Cobra Lounge in the movie). Mollys Game takes its inspiration from both the memoir and close work between Sorkin and Bloom herself, so Bloom was there to fill in the details between 2014, when the book was published, and 2017, when the movie hit theaters. Mollys Game explores the world of underground poker, following the true story of Molly Bloom, as she transforms from Olympic-level skier to hostess of the most exclusive poker club in the world, to FBI target. Sorkin has certainly made a name for himself in the biopic scene, having written the screenplay for award winning films such as Charlie Wilsons War, The Social Network, Moneyball, and Steve Jobs. She eventually moved up from assistant to game-runner, making as much as $4 million a year while servicingMolly's Game's Player X and other high rollers. Description MOLLY'S GAME is based on the true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons. Im sorry, he said, as if he had just realized that I was a real person with real feelings. So I want to help women to be successful." Like in the movie, she had hired a driver for security reasons. I greeted Ben at the door. Mit ihrem Bekannten Dean Keith (Jeremy Strong), der sich schon mit Pokerrunden auskennt, erweitert . The Molly's Game (2017 Film) Community Note includes chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quizzes written by community members like you. The movie changes the name of the club, though. "I saw someone lose $100 million in a night," says Bloom, "and he paid the next day." Douglas Downey. One morning, a bunch of guys took him up on it. The website's critical consensus reads, "Powered by an intriguing story and a pair of outstanding performances from Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba, Molly's Game marks a solid debut for writer-director Aaron Sorkin. He made off with her cash and jewelry, telling her that he had been sent by the mobsters. Molly had nothing to do with anything, Curtis said. Kevin Washington chewed tobacco and spit into a cup; Tobey hated that, said Curtis. The so-called "Poker. Worried about germs, he purportedly made them leave their shoes at the door and wear Crocs that he provided. She had trained for years to become an Olympic skier, but was injured while trying to qualify for the Olympics. [23] Production concluded on February 9, 2017. Her persistence paid off. (directed by) Writing Credits Cast (in credits order) verified as complete Produced by Music by Daniel Pemberton . Ski Team," Bloom said during an interview on Ellen. 2017 141 min NR (Not Rated) Drama, Biography Feature Film. Like the time film producer Rick Salomon infamous for starring in a sex tape with Paris Hilton grilled Affleck about Jennifer Lopez, the actors former fiance. "I made a lot of mistakes. Molly Bloom, a young skier and former Olympic hopeful becomes a successful entrepreneur (and a target of an FBI investigation) when she establishes a high-stakes, international poker game. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans, and finally, unbeknownst to her, the Russian mob. "[34] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Eventually he initiates her into the world of underground poker when he . Arrested by the FBI, she is indicted for involvement in illegal gambling with the mafia. But with no better option, he agreed to it. An imaginative young squirrel leads a musical revolution to save his parents from a tyrannical leader. He works at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Graduate Research Assistant since August 2020. After crashing out of the qualifiers, Molly moves to Los Angeles and stumbles into running a poker game for her day-job boss Dean (Jeremy Strong, in full Succession-pilot sicko mode). Eustice is an on-screen stand-in for television producer Houston Curtis, who had the same lopsided arrangement with the actorthough Curtis said Maguire eventually let the debt slide. 7.0/10.0 for great acting and dialogue . Tobey was powerful and tactical. But I overcame the worst bad beat you can get and am still in the game.. The more insane details in the movie about Mollys experiences working with Keith are relatively true to life. Everything portrayed up until Molly moves to LA in Mollys Game is extremely accurate of the true story. The film is absolutely worth your time. Dodao: Backuper 13.07.2021. Effinger previously worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Colorado Denver. The first time I won a quarter-million dollars was Guys first night in the game, said Curtis, adding that the circus impresario invited the poker crew to fly with him to Hawaii. I moved into her tiny house and a doctor [said] that my heart was functioning at 25 percent. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. "I had left a huge mess of my life," says Molly. Leo was tighter than a gnats ass.. On November 12, 2014, Mark Gordon's The Mark Gordon Company bought the feature film adaptation rights to Molly Bloom's memoir, Molly's Game, which Gordon produced. Whats legacy, anyway? In the new movie, adapted from Bloom's book of the same name, Player X is a . "[22], Principal photography began on November 9, 2016, in Toronto. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Currently you are able to watch "Molly's Game" streaming on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads. How Do We Solve This Crisis? But whats the legacy of the blockbuster album? But by 2008, Curtis was enduring a trifecta of problems: The value of his $3 million home had dipped by two-thirds, a $4 million TV-distribution deal went south and he had lost $100,000 in Las Vegas. Tobey said that he and I would have to stake Leo, recalled Curtis, meaning they would put up cash for DiCaprio to play, covering his losses but also getting a share of his winnings. Dean Keith. She says that she wasn't willing to resort to violence in order to collect, and if she was vetting the players properly, she wouldn't have to worry about not getting paid. He tried making [Bloom] bark like a seal [for $1,000]. Additionally, she contacts club and casino employees to spread the word about her games. Derek spoke with Matthew Biel of MedStar Georgetown University Hospital about rising teenage unhappiness and what we can do to fix it, allegedly kicked out of the Hard Rock Cafe, The Ploys and Tactics Behind Oscar Campaigning. The actor pressed guests to tip Meyer, a successful jewelry designer who is also the daughter of Ron Meyer, a former Hollywood power agent and now the vice-chairman of NBCUniversal. MOLLY'S GAME is a true crime drama starring Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba about Molly Bloom. Salomon is probably best known for the sex tape he made with then-girlfriend Paris Hilton in 2004, but he's a big-time poker player in his own right: He won $2.8 million at the 2014 World Series. But its funny: Rodriguez is never described as actually playing poker. It's for men only, and we see how men like Molly's boss Dean Keith ( Jeremy Strong ), Player X (Cera), Douglas Downey ( Chris O'Dowd ), Bad Brad ( Brian d'Arcy James ), Harlan Eustice (. If the story sounds familiar, that's because it inspired the 2018 movie "Molly's Game," starring Jessica Chastain as Molly Bloom, the former Olympic-class skier who was the hostess of the. Molly's Game received positive reviews, with particular praise for Sorkin's screenplay, as well as Chastain and Elba's performances, with the former being considered one of the best of her career by some critics. Serving as the dealer was Maguires then-wife, Jen Meyer. A big part of that was knowing that her mother had put her house up to help her pay her bail and legal fees. Is he an amalgam of the poker players worst tendencies, wrapped up into one, smarmy character? It stars Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O'Dowd, Joe Keery, Brian D'Arcy James, and Bill Camp. Bill Camp. Maguires relationship with Bloom grew increasingly toxicat one point in the book, she admits she got nervous if the actor was a dealt a few bad hands because hed take out his frustration on her (and the generous tips she was making). He could have procured much better options. In 2014, Molly Bloom wrote a memoir about her life and career titled, Molly's Game, which came to be the blueprint for Aaron Sorkin's screenplay when working on the film. That is, until the 2017 release of the crime-drama Molly's Game. Whats wrong? Please enter a valid email and try again. While Molly did hire lawyers, Jaffey is an agglomeration, Sorkins way of integrating his point of view into the movie. Molly orchestrated the weekly poker games for Keith Dean, who didn't know the difference between a bed sheet and a spreadsheet. Despite his earnings, the million-dollar debt was more than he could afford. Curtis estimates he won around $15 million during the games four years. 84% 82%. [30] The following weekend it dropped 44% to $3.9 million, finishing 11th. Wowwww you must be really rich.. I walked into my house, my daughter ran up to me, and I literally broke into tears.. The film premiered on September 8, 2017, at the Toronto International Film Festival, and began a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 25, 2017, by STX Entertainment, before expanding wide on January 5, 2018, and grossed $59 million worldwide. That is true, but Maguire, as portrayed in the book and on screen by Cera, is more than that: Hes a sinister figure who takes pleasure in, as he puts it in the film, destroying [the] lives of his fellow players, and eventually Bloom herself. I looked back at him, praying my face wasnt as red as it felt. (Spend it on a new dress, Dean suggests.) Dean Keith is a real estate developer who introduces Molly Bloom to the world of underground poker. "It saved my butt," says Bloom. Oops. I dont have all my money back, he said. J. Molly went home and started Googling, "What kind of music do poker players like to listen to?" The scene in which he yells at Molly for buying poor people bagels is something that actually happened, according to her memoir. He doesnt show up much in Mollys Game, but Bloom characterizes him as polite and charming, and not that interested in talking about Jennifer Lopezs butt. Molly's Game is the true story of Molly Bloom a beautiful, young, Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons.