There have been quite a few movies made over the last few years that takes a crack at the game of poker. The most popular one is arguably Rounders (1998) which was directed by John Dahl and features Matt Damon.  This year, ‘Molly’s Game’ a new movie that covers the life of the infamous ‘Poker Princess’ will hit theaters on November 22 and could very well turn out to be the best poker movie of this decade.
‘Molly’s Game’ is a true story on the life of Molly Bloom who built a reputation for herself as the ‘Poker Princess’ as she ran the most high stake poker games in the world for over a decade until the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided her underground poker den and arrested her.
Aaron Sorkin who won an Oscar for ‘Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay’ for the movie ‘The Social Network’ in 2011 not only did the screenplay for ‘Molly’s Bloom’ but also made his directorial debut. Sorkin has won a number of Golden Globe awards for his screenplays such as Moneyball, Steve Jobs and The West Wing.
Molly’s Game – The Cast
Samantha Isler plays the character of Molly Bloom as a teenager and then Jessica Chastain plays Bloom as the ‘Poker Princess’. Some of the other stars in the movie include Kevin Costner, Madison McKinley and Idris Elba.
Sony Pictures was initially set to produce the movie but they dropped out in the middle of filming. Sorkin decided to head over to Cannes and use his contacts to see if he could find a buyer and ended up working out a deal with STX Entertainment. The company released an official trailer for ‘Molly’s Bloom earlier this week on YouTube and has already received over 1.75 million views.
Molly’s Game – The Book
Molly Bloom decided to write a book called ‘Molly’s Game’in 2104 and share with the world her story. She had an initial offer where the publishes were willing to give her $2 million as an advance, if she was willing to dish out stories on some of her famous clients which included top celebrities, world class athletes, billion dollar hedge fund managers, Saudi Sheiks and politicians.
However Bloom decided to keep those stories to herself and forego the $2 million advance as she knew that some of those stories which took place behind closed doors, could cause a lot of embarrassment to her clients and ruin their families and possibly their careers. As a result, her publishers paid her an advance of just $35,000 and even though she did her best to promote the book by going on a lot of high profile TV shows, book sales were not very impressive.
Molly’s Game – The Movie
The global poker community has grown at a rapid pace and so has the mystery surrounding high stake poker games which usually take place at secret locations and are by invitation only. Molly’s Game which releases on November 22 will give poker fans an in-depth look into the mind and action of how the ‘Poker Princess’ stumbled into a career as a high stake poker organizer, her rise to the top and fall.
The movie starts by showing Molly Bloom as a woman who had a great chance of making it to the Olympics as a skier but due to injury had to miss out. The Harvard law graduate was exposed to the world of high stake poker games due to a real estate job that she landed. Bloom took advantage of the opportunity of hosting these high stake poker games, interacting with some of the biggest celebrities and networking with multi-millionaires to create a reputation of hosting the biggest and best high stake poker games in the world.
The movie also showcases some of the crazy incidents and eccentric requests that she had to face when dealing with these high profile individuals. Some of her clients included Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Ben Affleck and Alex Rodriguez.
The FBI eventually arrested Molly Bloom for running illegal and high stake poker games in the United States. The authorities wanted her to snitch on her high profile clientele in exchange for immunity and her confiscated money being handed back, but Bloom decided to keep her mouth shut. She lost a lot of money, paid a fine of $125,000 and received 12 months probation. Since then, she has moved out of the poker industry and has no plans to return!