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. Back in 2005, the Spider-Man star collaborated with a card cheat-turned-TV producer named Houston Curtis to create a regular poker game for themselves and their rich pals where as much as a few million bucks could be in play on any night. There were plenty of people who would have staked him for better terms hell, he could have gotten money on the street for better terms. Her focus is on the cross-section between story, cultural background, and character development. Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) makes his directorial debut with Molly's Game, which is based on the life of so-called "Poker Princess" Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain), a former Olympic skiing hopeful who turned to running high-stakes, celebrity-studded underground poker games in Los Angeles and New York after an unfortunate wipeout on the slopes . -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. "[17] On September 7, 2016, Michael Cera joined the cast as Player X, a celebrity poker player. They didnt even know how to shuffle a deck of cards.. 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. The movie even nods at this association by stating Player X had once portrayed a superhero; Maguire famously played Spiderman in the mid-2000s trilogy. Molly had nothing to do with anything, Curtis said. Oops. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. [24], Molly's Game premiered on September 8, 2017, at the Toronto International Film Festival. [21], Molly Bloom herself discussed Chastain's portrayal of her character with ET Canada stating, "We spent a little time together. Why Are American Teens So Unhappy? And that was when I crossed over and broke a federal law. Bloom made her money on the tips she got from players, which, as the games buy-ins increased, grew larger and larger. But, ask anyone who's read Molly Bloom's book, and they'll have a few ideas who Player X is based on in Molly's Game. Starring Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Copyright 2023 HistoryvsHollywood.com, CTF Media, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, Molly's Game: The True Story of the 26-Year-Old Woman Behind the Most Exclusive, High-Stakes Underground Poker Game in the World. 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. She has worked as a freelance writer since 2017, writing articles, features, and profiles in a wide range of topics, from business and tech to pop culture and media. Whats wrong? What do I want you to do, he said, as if he were pondering. How it plays out in the movie: Sorkins film introduces Harlan Eustice (played by Bill Camp), one of the few players at the game with a finite amount of income. The so-called "Poker. Mit ihrem Bekannten Dean Keith (Jeremy Strong), der sich schon mit Pokerrunden auskennt, erweitert . Starring: Jessica Chastain,Idris Elba,Kevin Costner Watch all you want. Im sorry, he said, as if he had just realized that I was a real person with real feelings. The truth is, Player X is less of a collection of stories relating to different celebrities, and more of a stand-in for one star in specific. 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. 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. Born on April 21, 1978, in Loveland, Colorado, Molly was a competitive mogul skier attempting to qualify for Olympics, but an unfortunate back injury ended her career. I didnt like this. 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In the spring of 1945, a grim era of bitter darkness, a young man and woman struggle for survival while fighting monsters born out of human greed. -Business Insider, It's somewhat obvious that "Player X" represents Tobey Maguire, who plays the biggest part in Bloom's memoir, but there's not an exact one-to-one correlation between the two. Wowwww you must be really rich.. 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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. 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 . With skiing out of the picture, Molly still felt a great deal of pressure to be successful. But with no better option, he agreed to it. Douglas Downey. The Olsen twinsyep, thembrought a billionaire Bloom was interested in into the game, so they were allowed to stick around. Initially, the thought of watching another run-of-the-mill poker film felt very unappealing. Apart fromthe way almost allof Aaron Sorkin's movies andTV shows are either directly based on true stories or loosely adapted from the experiences of real people, Sorkin is also known for his trademark use of perfectly-written quickfire dialogue, as popularized by TheWest Wing's "walk-and-talk" scenes. 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. He told me, Listen, I was never going to keep all those wins anyway, Curtis told the Observer. Related:Jessica Chastain & Idris Elba Intrigued By IT Sequel Fan-Casting. Here's who he really is. Worried about germs, he purportedly made them leave their shoes at the door and wear Crocs that he provided. First Assistant Camera. A lot of films in this biopic category play with a lot of creative licenses, and yes, there was some of that in terms of how he dealt with certain composite characters, but the rest was all true.. The guys included billionaires who had everything but fame. It stars Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O'Dowd, Joe Keery, Brian D'Arcy James, and Bill Camp. Based on a children's book by Paul McCartney. He was crass and dirty, but he was still hot in a caveman kind of way. Thank you, I sniffled, wanting to believe him. Not only does it deal with her career shift from a sportswoman to an underground poker empress, but it also dramatises the FBI investigation into her activities. It was nice, he said, and pushed into a huge pot. Molly's Game (2017) Full Cast & Crew See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Directed by Aaron Sorkin . In his directorial debut, award winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin details the remarkable true story of [] 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 thought that was reasonable, said Curtis. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Kevin Washington chewed tobacco and spit into a cup; Tobey hated that, said Curtis. She then gets a call from the cackling celeb, who triumphantly tells her, You are so fucked.. Molly earns large sums of money in tips alone. Writer/director Aaron Sorkin even gives a nod to the Spider-Man actor at one point, with a line about "Player X" portraying a superhero. Despite his earnings, the million-dollar debt was more than he could afford. He made off with her cash and jewelry, telling her that he had been sent by the mobsters. 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. We've received your submission. I looked at him. R, 2 hr 20 min. '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. Creditors placed a lien on his home. U.S.A. He only plays aces and kings. And he did. Curtis estimates he won around $15 million during the games four years. When A-Rod shows up to one of the games, it naturally causes a bit of a ruckus. Watch Molly's Game, Jeremy Strong - "Dean Keith" SoundbitesThe true story of Molly Bloom, a beautiful, young, Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most ex. The club had been partly owned by Johnny Depp from its opening in 1993 until 2004. What's the most that Molly Bloom saw someone lose in a single night? According to the true story, another actor took control of the weekly game, and Bloom writes that Maguire was the one who called her and giddily informed her that she had lost the game, as "Player X" does in the movie. But overall, theMollys Game true story remains intact, despite this fictional person being included. I dont have all my money back, he said. Her mother's sacrifice helped inspire her to write the book. 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. However, Bloom says that, similar to the film, her criminal attorney, Jim Walden, did vouch for her for $250,000 that she didn't have. Initially unfamiliar with poker, Molly quickly learns how to appeal to the players for tips. ""The feds first found out about it because a guy [hedge fund manager Bradley Ruderman] in my LA game was running a Ponzi scheme. we learned that the real nightclub where the poker games initially took place was The Viper Room on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. Maguire agreed to loan him $600,000. When Bloom takes her games to New York, she uses A-Rod the way Maguire had used Leo: He was a big name that elevated the status of the operation. To succeed in the NFL, hell need to be an outlier among outliers. Much of the positivereviews of Molly's Game can be attributed to how Sorkin carefully chose the changes he made to the real story, such as how the only thing the moviechanged about the club owner who first launched Molly into the world of underground poker is his name. 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). "I made this mix CD with 'The Gambler' on it and other really clichd songs," says Molly, "and I had a cheese plate, and my cutest outfit, and I walked into this room and it was incredible. At the sentencing, her lawyer, Jim Walden, conveyed to the court that Bloom was in severe debt in part due to giving up $125,000 in poker profits as part of her plea. [2] It was also the closing film at AFI Fest on November 16, 2017, replacing All the Money in the World. You wont bark for a thousand dollars? She's working on developing localized co-working spaces for women in an effort to build community. How it plays out in the movie: After the heated exchange about her tips, Bloom receives a text from Player X that says the game will take place at another venuerather than the hotel she had set up for everyoneand there was no need for her to show up. Screenwriter/director Aaron Sorkin consulted Molly throughout the screenwriting process. At the end of the night, she could count her profits alongside Tobey who almost always won.. A young woman, Molly ran high-stakes underground poker games that attracted high-profile Hollywood stars and wealthy criminals and eventually got her into trouble with the law. . And yet Sorkin's latest film and directorial debut Molly's Game is relatively faithful to the life of its subject, Molly Bloom (played by Jessica Chastain ). The movie changes the name of the club, though. Even with the flaws or disappointments that I mentioned, Molly's Game was a better than average watch and I look forward to more films directed and written by Sorkin. According to Mollys book, Maguire was a terrible tipper, amazing player, and awful loser. 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. This is pretty much exactly how it unfolds in the movie. Bloom herself was the one to approach Sorkin, rather than the other way around. [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. Yes. [25] It began a limited release in North America on December 25, 2017, before expanding wide on January 5, 2018. Though the dialogue in Sorkins film is a bit preachyits Aaron SorkinMollys Game is the perfect vehicle for his idiosyncrasies: Sorkin and poker are a match made in heaven. J.C. MacKenzie. I moved into her tiny house and a doctor [said] that my heart was functioning at 25 percent. If he said. Her other brother is a surgeon who graduated from Harvard Medical School. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans . The room was silent. In Mollys Game, it is called The Cobra Lounge, while the real-life poker games took place at The Viper Room, found on the Sunset Strip. While Molly did hire lawyers, Jaffey is an agglomeration, Sorkins way of integrating his point of view into the movie. Molly declines this deal, fearing that the information about her players would be released, and she pleads guilty. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Yes. Desperate to turn things around, he lost weight. The Viper Room, part-owned by Johnny Depp between 1993 and 2004, was a famous celebrity gathering point; it is where River Phoenix died from a drug overdose in 1993. Here is the true story of what happened, including some details Mollys Game leaves out. He also relied heavily on her memoir of the same name (pictured below). Mollys Game True Story: What Jessica Chastains Movie Changed, Just Mercy True Story: What The Movie Gets Right & Changes, The Social Network True Story: Everything The Facebook Movie Got Wrong, Jessica Chastain & Idris Elba Intrigued By IT Sequel Fan-Casting, Self-Made True Story: What Netflix Changes About Madam C.J. She often found herself being stiffed cash she was owed. Two who did were Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Lalibert and hedge-fund manager Brad Ruderman. The Alabama passer is one of the smallest QB prospects to be pegged as a first-round pick. Directed and written by Aaron Sorkin, based on the memoir by Molly Bloom. His face was lit up like it was Christmas Eve. [4], On Christmas Day, the film debuted with $1.04 million from 271 theaters. 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. And, since Tobey was a vegan, it really bothered him when people ordered pepperoni pizzas. Molly is currently pregnant, and expecting a baby girl in 2022. When she meets with Jaffey, he's already read her memoir. A Secret Laundromat Meetup, New Jersey Episode 4, and Potomac Reunion Part 2. No. 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. And an unpaid debt at a Las Vegas casino landed him in the LA County jail for a month. . The film is absolutely worth your time. 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. She stayed silent on the others, protecting their identities. In Mollys Game, Sorkin narrows the focus of the book while letting its less impactful anecdotes fall to the wayside. And I was getting stiffed a lot. -Vice, Yes. "[38] Chastain's portrayal of Molly Bloom was praised by The Hollywood Reporter, for "Chastain roars through the performance with a force and take-no-prisoners attitude that keeps one rapt." [20] On November 9, 2016, Chris O'Dowd, Jeremy Strong, Bill Camp, and Graham Greene joined the cast as well. 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. According to DiCaprio, record producer Kasseem Daoud Dean, better known as Swizz Beatz, was 'constantly hanging around' Low, who gave Dean and his wife Alicia Keys art and cars. After writing the book, she went around Hollywood trying to find a way to get a meeting with Aaron Sorkin. Those ancillary stories are great, though, especially if you love celebrity gossip. -People, "The very worst time I got screwed ended up costing me $250,000, and that really hurt," says Molly. Download eBook Molly's Game: From Hollywood's Elite to Wall Street's Billionaire Boys Club, My High-Stakes Adventure in the World of Underground Poker Full Pages Details Details Product: Soon to be a major motion picture, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin and starring Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, and Michael Cerathe true story of Hollywood's poker princess who gambled . Taking that one step further, the only real name used in the movie is Mollys own. Becoming a bottle service waitress at a club, she soon meets Dean, an ostentatious but unsuccessful real estate developer. Molly moves to NYC to begin a new underground poker game. He flipped it over a couple times in his fingers. So it goes for weeks and months. He works at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Graduate Research Assistant since August 2020. ThoughSorkin has his fair share of unremarkable releases,like the underwhelmingBeing the Ricardos,much of his work is celebrated exactly for the liberal use of "Sorkin-esque repartee," a style that continues to influence fully fictional and reality-based entertainment alike. When writing the screenplay, Aaron Sorkin did not interview Bloom's real-life lawyer, Jim Walden (pictured below, right). Walker's Life. But Maguire wasnt comfortable having players in his house. Curtis alleges in the book that Maguire hated seeing Bloom taking home as much as $30,000 in tips per night. (Independently, Bloom was sentenced to a years probation, a $200,000 fine and 200 hours of community service for gambling-related infractions in NYC.). This prompted her to take a percentage of the pot in order to operate as the bank, a move that caught the attention of the Feds. Overall, the changes between real life and Mollys Game were minor. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business . When A-Rod appeared, tall, handsome, and very polite, the heads jerked up from the table. Actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, and Macaulay Culkin became known participants in the underground poker scene after a court case turned public; the bank sued Molly for the money one of her players, Ponzi scheme runner Bradley Ruderman, had lost in the game. Many famous and wealthy individuals, including movie stars, investment bankers, and sports players, are involved in Dean's game. The scene in the movie when he yells at Molly (Jessica Chastain) for buying "poor people bagels" is real, according to her memoir. She rents a hotel penthouse and hires a staff. Poker was blowing up big and we found young, wealthy guys who wanted to play with Tobey, said Curtis. . Washington D.C. 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Her dealer convinces her to begin taking a percentage of large pots, recouping her potential losses but making her game an illegal gambling operation. Molly's Game'sCharlie Jaffey, played by Idris Elba, isan entirely fictionalperson. Bloom starts out as Keith's personal assistant. Principal photography began in November 2016 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her only ally was her criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey, who learned that there was much more to Molly than the tabloids led us to believe. 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. . He folded most hands and listened to music on huge headphones. In the movie, Player X goes on to take control of Mollys weekly game, whereas in real life, it was another player. Her only ally was criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey, who learned there was much more to Molly than poker. The stakes were so high, Curtis told The Post, that winning $20,000 felt like losing.. I wouldnt lie to you, man.. If you do something to earn these thousand dollars. His voice was loud enough that some of the guys looked up to see what was happening.
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