Film: Free Members-Only Screening | Battle Of The Sexes

2017, 121 minutes, color, DCP | Written by Simon Beaufoy; directed by Valerie Ferris and Jonathan Dayton; with Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman, Alan Cumming, Elisabeth Shue

For LACMA Film Club and Film Independent members only

Includes a conversation with directors Valerie Ferris and Jonathan Dayton

They’re two people who seem to have everything. She has an adoring husband and has taken the athletic world of the day by storm. He’s a retired sports legend with a wife who’s brought him into the family business and a little boy who thinks his dad is the center of the universe. Yet, in 1973, for tennis champion Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and former tennis champion Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell), it’s not enough. Riggs can’t sit still—literally. He’s compelled to compete and gamble for money and attention. For King, the rampant sexism of the tennis establishment pushes her into a league apart from the chauvinism of people such as Jack Kramer (Bill Pullman), who refuse to acknowledge women’s capabilities and audience-drawing power. And also for King, it’s coming to recognize her sexual orientation in a society that seems to have no place for it. Riggs upends both their lives when he creates a man versus woman tennis tournament, a suggestion that takes greater hold than either imaging. The newest film from directors Valerie Ferris and Jonathan Dayton (Little Miss Sunshine) quickly plunges into a biosphere where attitudes where so outlandishly close-minded—a time not unlike today, complete with a past-his-prime tennis icon running down a current woman star (except in this case, racism is also part of the conversation). This comedy-drama also stars Sarah Silverman, Andrea Riseborough, Natalie Morales, Alan Cumming, and Elizabeth Shue. The directors will be on hand to join a live discussion about Sexes after the film.

In conjunction with Film Independent at LACMA

LACMA | Bing Theater

LACMA Film Club and Film Independent members can reserve tickets starting at 12 pm on Thursday, August 24. | Free; limit two tickets per membership. | Proof of member status is required to reserve tickets during advance reservation period. | Reserve Tickets

PLEASE NOTE: Tickets for the screening can be picked up at LACMA’s Ticket Office, located in the Hammer Building, on the day of the event—as early as 11 am. Tickets are for general, unreserved seating. Ticketed guests must be in their seats 15 minutes prior to the advertised start time or seats may be released. Reservations do not guarantee entry, even with a ticket in hand. Entry is first come, first served, so please arrive early. Program and guest participation subject to change or cancellation without prior notice. Tickets are nontransferable and can only be picked up by the individual who purchased or reserved them.