Molly's Game Trailer (2017)

Trailer for Molly's Game, starring Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner and Michael Cera.

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. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans and finally, unbeknownst to her, the Russian mob. 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.

Film represents Aaron Sorkin's directorial debut, which is based entirely off the personal memoir of the real Molly Bloom. Sorkin was initially hired to only adapt the memoir into a workable screenplay, but it was later announced that he would also direct. How much later? Quite a bit of time actually. The production was picked up late 2014, with Sorkin committing to helm early 2016, almost a year and a half after committing to pen the film.

With Sorkin now committed, casting started off strong by picking up Jessica Chastain a month later, followed by Idris Elba soon after. Michael Cera is "Player X", an unnamed celebrity poker player that would visit Bloom's establishment.

Biopics seem to either bore audiences or draw heavy interest. Molly's Game seems to fit the latter, with Sorkin using a style that definitely keeps the visuals moving and the story pumping. As an added bonus, who doesn't like Idiris Elba or Jessica Chastain? With Sorkin, these two, and a solid mix of supporting cast, STX could have a hit on their hands.