Sony has pulled out of Aaron Sorkin‘s directorial debut “Molly’s Game,” which WME Global and CAA will jointly shop to a new U.S. distributor. Sierra/Affinity will launch international sales at Cannes, it was announced Friday.
Two-time Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain is set to star as Molly Bloom, while Golden Globe winner Idris Elba will co-star.
Bloom was 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 is her criminal defense lawyer (Elba), who learns that there’s much more to Molly than the tabloids lead us to believe.
The project, which is based on Bloom’s memoir of the same name, hails from the Mark Gordon Company and Entertainment One, who are co-financing the project. Gordon is producing with Amy Pascal of Pascal Pictures, while Leopoldo Gout will serve as an executive producer.
“Working with Aaron once again has been truly rewarding, and we’re thrilled to have Jessica and Idris, two of the most talented actors in film today, coming on board,” said Gordon. “With the addition of Sierra/Affinity through our partnership with eOne, we have a best in class team in place to bring Molly Bloom‘s riveting story to audiences.”
“The casting of Jessica and Idris in the two lead roles is any filmmaker’s dream come true. They’re two of the greatest actors of their generation, paired for the first time, and their chemistry will be electric,” added Sorkin.
eOne will directly distribute the film in Canada, the UK, Australia/New Zealand, Benelux and Spain. Sierra/Affinity, which represents all other international territories outside of the U.S.