As of July 2017, Emma Stone's upcoming tennis movie Battle of the Sexes is almost all-too-relevant — and Emma Stone herself agrees, as People points out. The title alone could be applied to nearly any political situation this year — like, say, all the issues surrounding President Donald Trump's replacement for the ACA. But more specifically, the movie details the 1973 tennis match between the loudly sexist tennis player Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King, which recalls the dealings between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
"It was very interesting to see this guy [Donald Trump] — this narcissistic, self-focused, constantly-stirring-the-pot kind of guy — against this incredible, qualified woman [Hillary Clinton], and at the same time be playing Billie Jean, with Steve [Carell] playing Bobby Riggs," Stone told Out magazine in an interview for their August issue.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
"We began shooting in the spring of 2016, when there was still a lot of hope in the air," Stone said of the production. Of course, as we all know, Donald Trump won the election, and "the battle of the sexes" became all the more prescient. (The movie arrives in theaters this September, almost a full year after the 2016 election.)
For a high-profile celebrity, Stone has always been on the quieter side, at least politically. She doesn't have a Twitter. She doesn't appear to have an Instagram. In general, Stone was the type of A-lister that stays silent — which, of course, doesn't mean she's not politically involved; just that she chooses not to talk about it — but the gender issues surrounding today's political climate seem to have inspired her to start speaking up. In the same interview, Stone discussed the pay gap in Hollywood, an increasingly publicized issue. In the past, men she's worked with have lowered their salaries so that she can make parity.
"In my career so far, I’ve needed my male co-stars to take a pay cut so that I may have parity with them," Stone admitted. "And that’s something they do for me because they feel it’s what’s right and fair."
We're no longer living in 1973, but the battle of the sexes wages on.
Read These Stories Next: