Given all of his success as a writer and producer, it’s surprising that The West Wing creator and Steve Jobs screenwriter Aaron Sorkin hasn’t given directing a try. However, that’s exactly what he’ll do for the first time with an upcoming adaptation of Molly’s Game, Molly Bloom’s 2014 memoir about her path to becoming the host of the most exclusive high-stakes poker game in the world.
Sorkin will reportedly pen the script for the film and make his directorial debut on the project, which was optioned by Steve Jobs producer Mark Gordon shortly after the book was published.
As initially reported by Deadline, Sorkin will develop, write, and direct the adaptation of Molly’s Game for Sony Pictures. The 2014 novel’s full title is Molly’s Game: From Hollywood’s Elite to Wall Street’s Billionaire Boys Club, My High-Stakes Adventure in the World of Underground Poker.
The official synopsis of Bloom’s memoir reads as follows:
When Molly Bloom was a little girl growing up in a small Colorado town, she watched her brothers win medals, ace tests, and receive high praise from everyone they met. Molly wanted nothing more than to bask in that glow a little herself, so she pushed herself too — as a student, as an athlete. She was successful but felt like she was always coming from behind. She wanted to break free, to find a life without rules and limits, a life where she didn’t have to measure up to anyone or anything — where she could become whatever she wanted.
Molly wanted more, and she got more than she could have ever bargained for.
In Molly’s Game, Molly Bloom takes the reader through her adventures running an exclusive high-stakes private poker game. Her clients ranged from iconic stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Ben Affleck to politicians and financial titans so powerful they moved markets and changed the course of history. With rich detail, Molly describes a world that until now has been shrouded in glamour, privilege, and secrecy, one where she fearlessly took on the Russian and Italian mobs—until she met the one adversary she could not outsmart, even though she had justice on her side: the United States government.
Molly’s Game is an incredible coming-of-age story about a young girl who rejected convention in pursuit of her version of the American dream. It’s the story of how she gained—and then lost—her place at the table, and of everything she learned about poker, love, and life in the process.
There’s currently no timetable for the film to go into production, or a release date for the film.
