Deadline had the exclusive scoop earlier, with the news that Austin Stowell has joined Battle of the Sexes, the biopic about Billie Jean King.
Austin Stowell is one of the newer kids on the block, with his most recent role being as a U-2 fighter who gets captured in Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies. The actor has some minor credits from Whiplash and Dolphin Tale, but otherwise what he’s most known for is his relationship with The Vampire Diaries actress Nina Dobrev.
Emma Stone will star in the film, playing women’s tennis and feminist icon Billie Jean King. Stowell will portray Larry King, the woman’s husband:
“The movie will follow the competition between tennis pros Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, which captured the zeitgeist back in 1973, when at 29, the No. 2 ranked King beat the 55-year-old retired former Wimbledon champion Riggs” (Variety).
Further, the movie will follow King’s personal struggle as a lesbian. King was married at 21, and later realized that she was gay, being the first prominent female athlete to come out.
Battle of the Sexes will be directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, from a script written by Simon Beaufoy. Alongside Stone and Stowell, the film is starring Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, and Elizabeth Shue.
