Emma Stone and Steve Carell will serve up a more humorous account of the epic tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.
"Battle of the Sexes" will star 26-year-old Stone as King and 52-year-old Carell as Riggs in the movie from Fox Searchlight, according to Deadline. Production will start this fall with a release date planned for 2016.
Carell and Stone previously starred together in 2011's "Crazy, Stupid, Love" as father and daughter.
The comedy film will have "dramatic and political overtones," according to Deadline. Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy has been working on the script for several years with cooperation from King (Riggs died in 1995).
The "Battle of the Sexes" match on Sept. 20, 1973 between the 29-year-old, No. 2 ranked King and the 55-year-old, retired former Wimbledon champion was the highest-rated television event since the moon landing in 1969. King won the match and $100,000 in front of more than 30,000 people in Houston.
The movie from directors Dayton and Valerie Faris will premiere around the same time as two other projects based on the historic game. HBO and Tom Hanks' production company, Playtone, have Elizabeth and Paul Giamatti starring as the dueling tennis stars in a script written by David Auburn. Will Ferrell is attached to play Riggs in the movie "Match Maker" from Chernin Entertainment.
