Aaron Sorkin’s last two scripted features, Steve Jobs and Moneyball, are fine, Oscar-nominated films. But they lacked an instantly recognizable quote, something like, “A million dollars isn’t cool, you know what’s cool? A billion dollars” from The Social Network, or, “You can’t handle the truth!” from A Few Good Men.
Could “Because it’s my name!” be that line from Molly’s Game?
It’s certainly the loudest (and therefore, most memorable) line in Sorkin’s directorial debut. Molly’s Game (read our review from TIFF here) stars Jessica Chastain as Molly Bloom, a world-class skier-turned-Poker Princess-turned-target of the FBI. “I saw her as a very unique movie heroine, and thought there was an interesting way to tell her story,” Sorkin has explained. “God knows I was scared going into it. But I felt like there was a chance I could be good at it. I don’t mean good at directing, I mean good at directing this movie.”
Here’s the official synopsis.
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. 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.
Molly’s Game — which also stars Idris Elba, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O’Dowd, Bill Camp, and Kevin Costner — opens on November 22.
