I didnt like this. She pushes herself to learn everything she can about poker so she can bring Dean's . But with no better option, he agreed to it. When the Olsen twins showed up with a billionaire I was trying to land for a game, they were in, no questions asked. 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. What does that mean, exactly? I asked, trying not to cry. So I want to help women to be successful." Every week? I asked, assessing the damage. And Im gonna make sooo much fking money this year at poker!. A big part of that was knowing that her mother had put her house up to help her pay her bail and legal fees. The Alabama passer is one of the smallest QB prospects to be pegged as a first-round pick. Molly is approached by the Italian mafia, who offer their services to extort money from non-paying players. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Then he suffered the biggest loss of his gambling career: $1 million in a single, terrible night at The Four Seasons. [2] It was also the closing film at AFI Fest on November 16, 2017, replacing All the Money in the World. Rick was hot. Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, Molly's Game is a true-life story of the Olympic standard American skier, Molly Bloom. Like in the movie, she had hired a driver for security reasons. I think for Tobey, it was more the thrill of knowing hed made a good deal.. And an unpaid debt at a Las Vegas casino landed him in the LA County jail for a month. There were Wall Street titans. I thought that was reasonable, said Curtis. Bill Camp. He had a strange style at the table, though; it was almost as if he wasnt trying to win or lose. 84% 82%. Writer/director Aaron Sorkin even gives a nod to the Spider-Man actor at one point, with a line about "Player X" portraying a superhero. The movie even nods at this association by stating Player X had once portrayed a superhero; Maguire famously played Spiderman in the mid-2000s trilogy. (Spend it on a new dress, Dean suggests.) According to DiCaprio, record producer Kasseem Daoud Dean, better known as Swizz Beatz, was 'constantly hanging around' Low, who gave Dean and his wife Alicia Keys art and cars. You wont bark for a thousand dollars? When you name a character Player X in a based on a true story movie, as Aaron Sorkin does in his directorial debut Mollys Game, it only invites speculation about who that character represents. Arthur wants to have the game at his house from now on. He sounded a little gentler when he heard the emotion in my voice. This prompted her to take a percentage of the pot in order to operate as the bank, a move that caught the attention of the Feds. We ask all these burning questions, and more! Here is the true story of what happened, including some details Mollys Game leaves out. A best friend of Maguire, Leo came to play poker when Mollys games were just starting out. Im not kidding. As Chastains Bloom points out, this is usury. After a serious injury ruined her chances of skiing at the Olympics, Molly Bloom's life changed direction. And later on, there is discussion of whether or not double-dipping is an acceptable way to eat! Molly's Game (2017) Full Cast & Crew See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Directed by Aaron Sorkin . He doesnt show up much in Mollys Game, but Bloom characterizes him as polite and charming, and not that interested in talking about Jennifer Lopezs butt. Her persistence paid off. Knowing them makes the movie a little more fun, so here are the best onesincluding Maguires most egregious moment in Mollys Game. Dean Keith. Reading the book and watching the movie, its pretty easy to determine that Player X is actually the OG Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire. So it goes for weeks and months. But, Curtis writes, neither the movie nor Blooms own memoir tells the true story of the LA game. Instead of attending law school immediately, Molly takes a year off and moves to LA. [30] The following weekend it dropped 44% to $3.9 million, finishing 11th. 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. She moved to Los Angeles in 2001, intending to take a year off before going to law school. 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. Interestingly, the fictional law firm Jaffey works for, Gage Whitney, has made several appearances in Sorkins work, including in The West Wing and Studio 60. . Molly, having contacts through years of running the game, creates her own poker games. "[37], Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, saying, "Molly's Game bristles with fun zingers, electric energy and Sorkin's brand of verbal fireworks all of which help enormously when the movie falters in fleshing out its characters. "I was third in North America, and I crashed pretty horrifically on my Olympic qualifying run." The film follows this storyline, giving narrative shape to the wild tale. There were A-list actors, the most famous people we see on television, politicians, and they're all seated around this table playing this game that I didn't know what it was, but it seemed to be super compelling to them." [28] In its first full weekend, the film grossed $2.3 million, finishing 13th at the box office. Although Bloom kept the identities of many of her regulars a. He plays well, but one devastating hand causes Harlan to unravel and eventually accrue over $1 million of debt. Kevin Washington chewed tobacco and spit into a cup; Tobey hated that, said Curtis. As Curtis told the Observer, he believes Maguire used his famous friend to get big fish to come to the table: Tobey was basically paying their entry fee, and using Leo as a lure to get these billionaires like Alec Gores and Andy Beal to come to the games.. When it stays close to the poker table, Jessica Chastains drama, Mollys Game, is riveting but film loses focus in its last half when the games end. In researching how accurate Molly's Game is, we discovered that as the game began to get out of control, so did Molly's life. "I saw someone lose $100 million in a night," says Bloom, "and he paid the next day." He said to me, Dude, I have to get these scumbags out of my house., (A representative for Washington had no comment.). There, she begins working as a cocktail waitress and then an assistant to a Hollywood insider, Dean Keith (Jeremy Strong, nice and sleazy), who soon has Molly running his weekly poker night out of . That is, until the 2017 release of the crime-drama Molly's Game. 2017 141 min NR (Not Rated) Drama, Biography Feature Film. Desperate to turn things around, he lost weight. Her poker customers came to include men from the Russian mob. . It was nice, he said, and pushed into a huge pot. He, his wife and their two daughters lived in a $3 million LA home. In 2018, the movie was nominated in the 2018 Academy Award for the Best Adapted Screenplay category. One day Feinstein told her, "I'm going to need you to help me run this poker game." He lost around $50,000 to me and didnt have any money [on him], Curtis recalled. Starring Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Copyright 2023 HistoryvsHollywood.com, CTF Media, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, Molly's Game: The True Story of the 26-Year-Old Woman Behind the Most Exclusive, High-Stakes Underground Poker Game in the World. Bark like a seal who wants a fish, he said. Initially, the thought of watching another run-of-the-mill poker film felt very unappealing. She rents a hotel penthouse and hires a staff. Based on a true story. Maguire agreed to loan him $600,000. His face was lit up like it was Christmas Eve. "So I was extending credit to these guys. Could James Harden Potentially Return to Houston After the Season? The actor pressed guests to tip Meyer, a successful jewelry designer who is also the daughter of Ron Meyer, a former Hollywood power agent and now the vice-chairman of NBCUniversal. 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). 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. Bloom also wrote that Maguire "was the worst tipper, the best player, and the absolute worst loser. This scene doesnt make it into Blooms memoir, although that is because she wrote it before her actual sentencing. Are the Lakers dead? Notably,Molly's Game is also the debut of Aaron Sorkin as a movie director. Joker director Todd Phillips was a regular. This story has been shared 111,726 times. The money helped inspire her to fully embrace the world of underground poker. They didnt even know how to shuffle a deck of cards.. [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. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. By the end of the book, its revealed that Maguire orchestrated Blooms ousting from the games. But when we went to $200/$400 blinds making it a no-limit poker game in which you could easily lose six figures per night Todd backed off for a while. 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. 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. Her focus is on the cross-section between story, cultural background, and character development. It concluded: "One strong woman and many rich men make for a good show."[39]. She's also working in social media to that end as well. Molly Bloom ran the most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before the FBI arrested her. 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 . Douglas Downey. High in the Clouds. 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. At this time, she becomes increasingly addicted to drugs, as the games have taken their toll. I dont have all my money back, he said. Summary: 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. He told The Post that the actor tried making her bark like a seal [for a $1,000 chip]. She becomes his office manager, and is soon involved in running his underground poker games at "The Cobra Lounge". The guys included billionaires who had everything but fame. His opponent had gotten confused. Molly's Game. He also relied heavily on her memoir of the same name (pictured below). "I was on the U.S. Molly went home and started Googling, "What kind of music do poker players like to listen to?" A half-century ago, Pink Floyd unleashed a classic that still lingers on the Billboard charts and in college dorms to this day. Sorkin has certainly made a name for himself in the biopic scene, having written the screenplay for award winning films such as Charlie Wilsons War, The Social Network, Moneyball, and Steve Jobs. Naslov: Molly's Game; Molly's Game (2017) BRRip.XviD-DrSi fps: 23.976. Principal photography began in November 2016 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. a man whom she gives the pseudonym Dean Keith. and "What do they eat?" (Independently, Bloom was sentenced to a years probation, a $200,000 fine and 200 hours of community service for gambling-related infractions in NYC.). Poker was blowing up big and we found young, wealthy guys who wanted to play with Tobey, said Curtis. Molly arrives in her best dressshe bought it for $88 at J.C. Penneyand collects $10,000 from every poker player who walks through the doors. While Molly did hire lawyers, Jaffey is an agglomeration, Sorkins way of integrating his point of view into the movie. 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. "It saved my butt," says Bloom. The only thing missing for Sorkin's wheelhouse is President Bartlet. Maguire quickly enlisted one of his best friends, Leonardo DiCaprio, as a lure. Everything portrayed up until Molly moves to LA in Mollys Game is extremely accurate of the true story. Wowwww you must be really rich.. When A-Rod shows up to one of the games, it naturally causes a bit of a ruckus. 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. Aaron Sorkin was hired to adapt the memoir into a screenplay. About. 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. Taking that one step further, the only real name used in the movie is Mollys own. Brad is indicted for running a Ponzi scheme; Molly is investigated and questioned as to who attended her games. Mollys Game explores the world of underground poker, following the true story of Molly Bloom, as she transforms from Olympic-level skier to hostess of the most exclusive poker club in the world, to FBI target. Starring: Jessica Chastain,Idris Elba,Kevin Costner Watch all you want. No thanks, I said, as casually as if he had asked me if I wanted a Tic Tac. Her dealer convinces her to begin taking a percentage of large pots, recouping her potential losses but making her game an illegal gambling operation. Apart fromthe way almost allof Aaron Sorkin's movies andTV shows are either directly based on true stories or loosely adapted from the experiences of real people, Sorkin is also known for his trademark use of perfectly-written quickfire dialogue, as popularized by TheWest Wing's "walk-and-talk" scenes. "I made this mix CD with 'The Gambler' on it and other really clichd songs," says Molly, "and I had a cheese plate, and my cutest outfit, and I walked into this room and it was incredible. I saw the wheels turning. In Mollys Game, it is called The Cobra Lounge, while the real-life poker games took place at The Viper Room, found on the Sunset Strip. Creditors placed a lien on his home. Not only does it deal with her career shift from a sportswoman to an underground poker empress, but it also dramatises the FBI investigation into her activities. (directed by) Writing Credits Cast (in credits order) verified as complete Produced by Music by Daniel Pemberton . When A-Rod appeared, tall, handsome, and very polite, the heads jerked up from the table. In her book, Bloom only mentions the celebrities who had already been outed in the media prior to the book being published. 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. At the sentencing, her lawyer, Jim Walden, conveyed to the court that Bloom was in severe debt in part due to giving up $125,000 in poker profits as part of her plea. A young woman, Molly ran high-stakes underground poker games that attracted high-profile Hollywood stars and wealthy criminals and eventually got her into trouble with the law. Tobey was powerful and tactical. She begins cocktail waitressing and catches the eye of producer Dean Keith (Jeremy Strong), who finds her smart and capable. The Molly's Game true story reveals that, like in the movie, former freestyle mogul skier Molly Bloom had never made it to the Olympics, in part due to an injury. [5] The film earned Chastain a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress Drama,[6] while Sorkin earned nominations for his screenplay at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, Writers Guild of America Awards, and BAFTA Awards.[7][8]. Molly's Game received positive reviews, with particular praise for Sorkin's screenplay, as well as Chastain and Elba's performances, with the former being considered one of the best of her career by some critics. Men, no matter what age, ilk, or net worth, idolize a professional athlete. -Business Insider, It's somewhat obvious that "Player X" represents Tobey Maguire, who plays the biggest part in Bloom's memoir, but there's not an exact one-to-one correlation between the two. Portrayed by Jeremy Strong in the Molly's Game movie and referred to as Reardon Green in the book, Molly's boss, Darin Feinstein, wasn't the most pleasant of men. [20] On November 9, 2016, Chris O'Dowd, Jeremy Strong, Bill Camp, and Graham Greene joined the cast as well. Here are some of Blooms stories about Maguire that made it into Sorkins big-screen adaptation. Shannon Lewis is a features and news writer on Screen Rant. The Hollywood Reporter also stated: "Sorkin keeps things rolling relentlessly and gets fine results from the actors down the line []. He held a thousand-dollar chip in his hand. Molly's Game is a 2017 American biographical crime drama film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin (in his directorial debut), based on the 2014 memoir of the same name by Molly Bloom. I moved into her tiny house and a doctor [said] that my heart was functioning at 25 percent. His character is inspired by Darin Feinstein and he starts out as Molly's employee. I greeted Ben at the door. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans . This is in Bloom's memoir. Like in real life, barring some name changes, Dean Keith (The Big Short'sJeremy Strong) met Molly while she was waitressing and offered her a gig as his assistant at his night club. 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.