--- description: Emma Stone is the latest to sign on to play the tennis legend title: 3 Different Movies About Billie Jean King Are in the Works image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c374934eb8fa3c1/6987ec0e0b72e357e56e198a/billie-jean-king.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # There Are Three Different Movies About Billie Jean King in the Works by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 21, 2015 3:01 PM CUT  Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs a few months before their Battle of the Sexes match. Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs a few months before their Battle of the Sexes match.Jim Garrett/NY Daily News—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 21, 2015 3:01 PM CUT The 1973 Battle of the Sexes match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs was played in three sets, and now it seems the film adaptation will play out the same way. Three different movies about King and Riggs are in development, each with its own angle on one of the most-watched televised sporting events in history. The latest [news](http://deadline.com/2015/04/battle-of-the-sexes-emma-stone-billie-jean-king-steve-carell-bobby-riggs-fox-searchlight-1201412970/ "undefined") is that Emma Stone will star opposite Steve Carell in the movie with the most official name, _Battle of the Sexes_, with a screenplay by Simon Beaufoy (_Slumdog Millionaire_) and directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (the _Little Miss Sunshine_ team). King has been involved in the development process for several years, and this version probably has the best chance of becoming the definitive filmic take on the event. [Meanwhile](http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/04/emma-stone-elizabeth-banks-billie-jean-king-tennis-movies "undefined"), Elizabeth Banks will put on her tennis whites for an untitled HBO movie with Paul Giamatti as her rival. Will Ferrell will star in a third version, _The Match Maker_, focused more on Riggs and speculation that he threw the match at the request of the mafia to pay off gambling debts. No actress has signed on yet to play King. At worst, the movies risk canceling each other out (especially if they all end up debuting in the same season). At best, we get to see some great actors duke it out on the tennis court for glory—and that’s definitely worth a box seat. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3829540/billie-jean-king-movies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3829540/billie-jean-king-movies/"},"headline":"There Are Three Different Movies About Billie Jean King in the Works","datePublished":"2015-04-21T15:01:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:32:54.971Z","description":"Emma Stone is the latest to sign on to play the tennis legend","url":"https://time.com/3829540/billie-jean-king-movies/","keywords":["movies","tennis","Elizabeth Banks","Emma Stone"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c374934eb8fa3c1/6987ec0e0b72e357e56e198a/billie-jean-king.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c374934eb8fa3c1/6987ec0e0b72e357e56e198a/billie-jean-king.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tennis \"Battle of the Sexes\"","caption":"Tennis \"Battle of the Sexes\"","creditText":"Jim Garrett/NY Daily News—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3829540/billie-jean-king-movies/","name":"There Are Three Different Movies About Billie Jean King in the Works"}}]}] ```