"Billy Jean King has always been driven by social change. Tennis was really the vehicle to make that change happen because she was so great at tennis, it really gave her a voice.
She couldn't have possibly known in that moment just how impactful and definitive this match was for all of women's sports history."
"Battle of the Sexes is as relevant today as it was forty years ago. I think it's an important story to tell to see how far we've come, to see how far we haven't."
"Battle of the Sexes has many messages but they are in the same vein of truth, freedom and liberty. Allow yourself to love whoever and allow yourself to follow a passion, whatever it is. That transcends gender and race."
"I think for so long people just accept things as they are, it doesn't occur to them that something isn't fair, or that they deserve just as much as anybody else. Gladys and Billie Jean kind stood up for equality and took a chance."
"By 1973, we had gone through the heavy protests of the 60s, the women’s liberation movement, and many other things so there was a great sense of everything being examined. This match came up and the stakes were really high."
"Battle of the Sexes had such reverberations for the whole of society, which is an indication of what society was like if the fact that a woman beat a man at tennis would be a huge cultural shift. It tells you a lot about the culture."
"This one tennis match had such an impact on our society and so did Billie Jean King."
"The original nine fought for women and girls so that they would always have a place to compete, to be recognized and appreciated as an athlete with their accomplishments, not just their looks, and to be able to make a living. We had to do this for the future generations."
"The script was incredible and we never imagined we would do a sports movie, but we realized that this is a sports story, it's a love story, it's a political story. It's about someone acting on their beliefs and taking a stand. We've tried to create a movie that is the intersection of all these different genres."
In the wake of the sexual revolution and the rise of the women’s movement, the 1973 tennis match between women’s world champion Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and ex-men’s-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) was billed as the BATTLE OF THE SEXES and became one of the most watched televised sports events of all time, reaching 90 million viewers around the world. As the rivalry between King and Riggs kicked into high gear, off-court each was fighting more personal and complex battles. The fiercely private King was not only championing for equality, but also struggling to come to terms with her own sexuality, as her friendship with Marilyn Barnett (Andrea Riseborough) developed. And Riggs, one of the first self-made media-age celebrities, wrestled with his gambling demons, at the expense of his family and wife Priscilla (Elisabeth Shue). Together, Billie and Bobby served up a cultural spectacle that resonated far beyond the tennis court, sparking discussions in bedrooms and boardrooms that continue to reverberate today.
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