This is yours, he said, holding it out to me. To succeed in the NFL, hell need to be an outlier among outliers. Molly's Game'sCharlie Jaffey, played by Idris Elba, isan entirely fictionalperson. 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. A best friend of Maguire, Leo came to play poker when Mollys games were just starting out. -Ellen. Every week? I asked, assessing the damage. Her other brother is a surgeon who graduated from Harvard Medical School. The deal was impossible to overcome, said Curtis. [28], Peter Debruge of Variety praised Sorkin's script, saying, " Molly's Game delivers one of the screen's great female parts a dense, dynamic, compulsively entertaining affair, whose central role makes stunning use of Chastain's stratospheric talent. 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 (. Men, no matter what age, ilk, or net worth, idolize a professional athlete. '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. 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. You can almost picture him on the sidelines, in a turtleneck sweater, gleefully reacting to folded hands and rivers. As based on the book by Molly Bloom, Molly's Game shows what happens to Molly (played by Jessica Chastain), . I looked at him. Bloom starts out as Keith's personal assistant. [3] It ended up debuting to $6.9 million, finishing 7th at the box office. No poker player can beat that juice, but Houston said he agreed. Molly's 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. And at over two hours long, the film still feels tight and never fails to entertain. Wow, they are swingin, huh? he said, looking down at me. Show more 2 hours, 9 minutes Last on Sun 27 Mar. 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. "I was third in North America, and I crashed pretty horrifically on my Olympic qualifying run." . Molly Bloom (born April 21, 1978) is an American entrepreneur, speaker, [1] and author of the 2014 memoir Molly's Game. 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. Charlie negotiates a deal for Molly to receive no sentence and for her money to be returned in exchange for her hard drives and digital gambling records. Thanks for the heads-up. I attempted to sound casual, but the words caught in my throat and the tears were coming hard and fast. Celebrities were brought in to add glamour and, occasionally, serve as collateral damage. Dodao: Backuper 13.07.2021. To add insult to injury, Tobey then victoriously showed his bluff. Then he suffered the biggest loss of his gambling career: $1 million in a single, terrible night at The Four Seasons. More books than SparkNotes. 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. Principal photography began in November 2016 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Is he an amalgam of the poker players worst tendencies, wrapped up into one, smarmy character? "I was on the U.S. -EllenIn 2011, the group of hedge fund investors who had been taken in Bradley Ruderman's Ponzi scheme ended up suing Tobey Maguire and other celebrities. So in 2005, the game moved to The Viper Room, the Sunset Strip nightclub where River Phoenix fatally overdosed in 1993. 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). Not only was he devastatingly handsome, he was incredibly talented. 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. In Mollys Game, Sorkin narrows the focus of the book while letting its less impactful anecdotes fall to the wayside. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business . About. Youre too rich now? [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. . Maguire agreed to loan him $600,000. Overall, the changes between real life and Mollys Game were minor. Directed and written by Aaron Sorkin, based on the memoir by Molly Bloom. Her poker customers came to include men from the Russian mob. He roughed her up and threatened her family. And I was getting stiffed a lot. As they recognized him, they turned into excitable little boys. Though Player X is a memorable character on the periphery of Mollys Game, the film is very much centered on Bloom as she weaves her way through the poker scene in Los Angeles and New York, before it eventually catches the attention of the FBI. RRR Deserves to Make Oscar History. 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. The guys included billionaires who had everything but fame. In real life, his name was Darin Feinstein, a co-owner of The Viper Room who brought Molly on as an executive assistant. He hires her as his assistant. In the book Molly's Game, it's never a secret that this nefarious gambler is none other than Spider-Man actor Tobey Maguire. He bought a dream house for his mother, a musical-instrument store for his dad and a dojo for his old karate teacher. 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. The only thing missing for Sorkin's wheelhouse is President Bartlet. [30] The following weekend it dropped 44% to $3.9 million, finishing 11th. Despite his earnings, the million-dollar debt was more than he could afford. 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. Yes. The movie changes the name of the club, though. In her book, Bloom only refers by name to the people who the media had already outed, protecting the identity of her players who remained anonymous. -Vice, "The trajectory that I started out, from serving people drinks, then I became a game runner and operator, and then, ultimately, I became the bank," Molly explained. Becoming a bottle service waitress at a club, she soon meets Dean, an ostentatious but unsuccessful real estate developer. 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. -USA Today, Molly is using her networking experience to reach fellow women and help them become successful. He made off with her cash and jewelry, telling her that he had been sent by the mobsters. In 2019, Molly Bloom married neuroscientist Devin Effinger. Outside of outliers like Rounders and Casino Royale, poker themed films generally result in a rather forgettable experience. 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. As my influence had increased, and my tips, so had his harping. 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. 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. Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic both had 40-point games after the Sixers loss against the Mavs. He also relied heavily on her memoir of the same name (pictured below). Rich men went home with their pockets light of cash but full of stories. Knowing them makes the movie a little more fun, so here are the best onesincluding Maguires most egregious moment in Mollys Game. 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. Bloom had no comment.). She often found herself being stiffed cash she was owed. (Michael Cera) or Dean Keith (Jeremy Strong) than with poor, misunderstood jock . I thought that was reasonable, said Curtis. 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. The film follows this storyline, giving narrative shape to the wild tale. Still, in his first film with a female protagonist, the writer-director has hit on a timely theme: the tribulations of being a woman in a man's world. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans and finally, unbeknownst to her, the Russian mob. Tobey was powerful and tactical. Based on a true story, Molly's Game was adapted from Bloom's memoir of the same name by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The West Wing). If he said. That its all based on Blooms real-life experiences makes this one of the most fascinating true stories in years, and a revealing window into a high-stakes poker world in which a single hand could be worth more than most people make in their lifetime. Instead of attending law school immediately, Molly takes a year off and moves to LA. Please enter a valid email and try again. 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 . I looked back at him, praying my face wasnt as red as it felt. The room was silent. In the bookMolly's Game: The True Story of the 26-Year-Old Woman Behind the Most Exclusive, High-Stakes Underground Poker Game in the World, Bloom is careful about who she names, and who remains anonymous. The more insane details in the movie about Mollys experiences working with Keith are relatively true to life. (directed by) Writing Credits Cast (in credits order) verified as complete Produced by Music by Daniel Pemberton . 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. Dean Stinchcombe. Thanks, Tobey, I said, reaching my hand out. Molly's assets are seized, and she returns home to live with her mother. She pushes herself to learn everything she can about poker so she can bring Dean's . One night, Matt Damon came as a guest of his buddy Affleck. "I made a lot of mistakes. 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. Molly ran two underground games that attracted some of Hollywood's biggest stars, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Macaulay Culkin, Alex Rodriguez, Pete Sampras and others. Bloom herself was the one to approach Sorkin, rather than the other way around. Affleck is a notorious gamblerthe guy was allegedly kicked out of the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas in 2014 for counting cards at a blackjack table. Chris O'Dowd. 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. [24], Molly's Game premiered on September 8, 2017, at the Toronto International Film Festival. After a serious injury ruined her chances of skiing at the Olympics, Molly Blooms life changed direction. We ask all these burning questions, and more! Joker director Todd Phillips was a regular. Curtis said that Ruderman was so inept and so rich that he was considered a godsend. Lalibert was also valued. Her brother, Jeremy Bloom, was a two-time Olympian freestyle skier who was also a professional football player for the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers. X. . That's how the celebrities got outed. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans, and finally, unbeknownst to her, the Russian mob. He lost $5 million [of his investors' money] in the game and they came after all of us. When writing the screenplay, Aaron Sorkin did not interview Bloom's real-life lawyer, Jim Walden (pictured below, right). Charlie reads Molly's book and becomes interested in helping her case, as he feels she has not committed serious enough wrongdoing to merit prison. See the full list of Molly's Game cast and crew including actors, directors, producers and more. Her players included Hollywood royalty . Hey, yo, did that Jennifer Lopezs ass have cellulite on it, or was it nice?. Molly Bloom ran the most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before the FBI arrested her. Bloom made her money on the tips she got from players, which, as the games buy-ins increased, grew larger and larger. In the film, Player X is bothered by Bloom earning more and more money from the tips, saying he wants to cap itas he puts it, Your money is my money. Bloom is, obviously, insulted by this. 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. One-thousand dollars was his insult tip.. With the deal done, Curtis writes, Maguire joyfully shouted, I own you now! But with no better option, he agreed to it. Why Are American Teens So Unhappy? Where Mollys Game depicts The Cobra Lounge with a flashy neon sign stereotypical of West Hollywood, The Viper Clubs current exterior is far more downplayed: a simple matte black. He also glimpsed the stars petty side. 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. No. 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. [15], On February 18, 2016, Sorkin offered Jessica Chastain the lead role in the film, but the negotiations between them had then not yet begun. [27], Molly's Game grossed $28.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $30.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $59.3 million. Many famous and wealthy individuals, including movie stars, investment bankers, and sports players, are involved in Dean's game. Her dealer convinces her to begin taking a percentage of large pots, recouping her potential losses but making her game an illegal gambling operation. Jeremy Strong Dean Keith. The film follows Bloom (Chastain), who becomes the target of an FBI investigation after the underground poker empire she runs for Hollywood celebrities, athletes, business tycoons, and the Russian mob is exposed. Bloom was deposed in the bankruptcy case, but nobody was arrested as a result of the LA game since no laws had been broken. [20] On November 9, 2016, Chris O'Dowd, Jeremy Strong, Bill Camp, and Graham Greene joined the cast as well. Keith is a foul-mouthed real estate agent whose principal source of income is in running illegal backroom, high-stakes poker games populated by celebrities, athletes and other assorted fat.