Rising Star Brie To Play Billie Jean?
Brie Larson is the star of “Room,” which just won the Oscar-bellwether Audience award at the Toronto Film Festival (and sent bloggers like Jeff Wells into fulminations, as the movie is apparently very claustrophobic and appeals primarily to women). Brie’s star is rising — though how far such a literally cheesy name can rise remains a question — and she may be headed for an Oscar nom. She also may have grabbed a plum role: as Billie Jean King in forthcoming film “Battle of the Sexes.” The film, which will be directed by “Little Miss Sunshine” team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Daris, from a script by Simon Beaufoy, is due to shoot later this year. Emma Stone was attached to the project, but has now dropped out because of a scheduling conflict. In 1973, King, then 29 and world No 2 female tennis player, was challenged to a match by Bobby Riggs, the 55-year-old retired former Wimbledon champion. She accepted and it was played in Houston, with a $100,000 prize and much pageantry. Guess who won?
