The Business
Directors Valerie Faris & Jonathan Dayton on 'Battle of the Sexes'
Filmmakers and married couple Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton planned to release their film about the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs before the 2016 presidential election. Then their star, Emma Stone, signed on to make La La Land and Battle of the Sexes got pushed back. Now their film -- about a battle against misogyny, gender discrimination and homophobia both on the tennis court and off -- suddenly has more resonance than they expected.
By Kim Masters • • 28m ListenWhen filmmakers Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris began work on a movie about the famous 1973 Battle of the Sexes tennis match, they knew they'd need the blessing of Billie Jean King. But it wasn't such an easy ask: the movie they wanted to make wasn't just about tennis -- it would also explore King's extramarital affair with her hairdresser. Faris and Dayton,the directors of Little Miss Sunshine and Ruby Sparks, tell us about their intimidating first meeting with the famous athlete and activist. And they explain how a delay in making their movie while Emma Stone went off to film La La Land might have been a good thing.
Photo: Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris on the set of Battle of the Sexes. Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon. © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
