Battle of the Sexes (Fox Searchlight) takes us to 1973 when the eighth wonder of the world—believe it or not, that’s what the Houston Astrodome was called—hosted the tennis match of the century, pitting champion Billie Jean King, age 29, against Bobby Riggs, 55, himself a former champ turned rogue hustler/self-promoter who stoked the fires for a big payday in a battle of the sexes tennis match. He upped the ante by adopting a male chauvinist persona, contending that man was superior to woman—and that he would prove it on the court by thrashing King.
Meanwhile King had a lot to prove as the leading advocate for women tennis players deserving prize money equal to what the men were getting. She had just organized the women professionals as they broke away from the tennis establishment and ran their own Virgina Slims-sponsored series of tournaments.
The King-Riggs tennis match is now part of modern sports folklore. But the beauty of the movie Battle of the Sexes—deftly directed by the wife and husband team of Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton—is that the tennis match isn’t the only battle being waged. Rather it’s the battle within each player that gives more weight to the story—and ultimately to the tennis match itself. For Riggs (portrayed by Steve Carell), his impish charm masks what some would view as a gambling addiction, which threatens to ruin his marriage. He’s also battling the fate of a notable athlete past his prime, coping with obscurity while still craving attention and adulation.
King’s battle is even more profound as she struggles with defining her sexuality and who she is. Ostensibly happily married to a devoted, loving man, Billie Jean (played by Emma Stone) has her inner passion stirred by a female hairstylist (Andrea Riseborough). Their love affair comes at a time when a gay lifestyle carried a considerable stigma in mainstream society. As we know, King went on to be far more than just a tennis champion. She became a champion of social change, helping to advance women’s and LGBTQ rights.
Faris affirmed that these inner struggles were among the prime challenges of the film for her and Dayton. “We wanted to get the audience invested in the two characters—Billie Jean and Bobby—so that by the time we get to the tennis match, you’re watching more than a tennis match. You’re all in once you’ve seen what they’ve gone through. We had to balance their stories with the event itself, bringing more emotional resonance to that event.”
Helping to attain that balance was the creative equilibrium and rapport between Dayton and Faris, honed over years of not only marriage (including raising three children) but also nimble, insightful storytelling, starting with the MTV music documentary show The Cutting Edge and then spanning music videos (for the likes of Smashing Pumpkins and Red Hot Chili Peppers) and commercials before successfully dovetailing into feature filmmaking with the acclaimed Little Miss Sunshine, and later the under the radar and underrated Ruby Sparks followed now by Battle of the Sexes.
Little Miss Sunshine earned four Oscar nominations in 2007, including for Best Picture while winning for Best Original Screenplay (Michael Arndt) and Best Supporting Actor (Alan Arkin). On the strength of the film, Faris and Dayton earned a DGA Award nomination as well as a BAFTA nom for the David Lean Award for Direction, and won the Best Director honor from the Film Independent Spirit Awards.
Battle of the Sexes marks a new feature filmmaking wrinkle for Faris and Dayton—a real-life story, which in this case is familiar to many, particularly those old enough to remember the King-Riggs match televised worldwide. “This was our most challenging film because it’s a true story. It’s the life story of someone [King] whom we revered and respected,” related Faris. “It can be a scary prospect at times to be sure that you’re doing full justice to someone’s story and what she’s about. But ultimately you learn that it’s good to be challenged. As we got more deeply into it, we came to trust ourselves a little more. That was one of the main lessons learned from our experience on this film.”
Division of labor?
Asked about the division of labor between them directorially, Faris quipped, “Jonathan returns more phone calls than I do.” But in a more serious vein, Dayton and Faris have a gender parity—a bit ironic when teaming on a movie titled Battle of the Sexes—which permeates their working relationship. “We both do everything, collaborate on all elements together. It’s a boring answer but it’s the truth,” said Dayton. “We’re problem solving together. Our method is collaboration. There’s nonstop dialogue between us on a project. Even now we’re still discussing the movie.”
It’s an ongoing discussion that has some of its roots in commercialmaking—which in turn has honed the directing duo’s ability to engage with others. “You deal with an agency team and you learn to connect with talented creative people, including clients,” said Faris. “That experience gives you practice in terms of making your arguments, listening and steering things in the right direction when you get to a feature set—though there’s less of a committee there.”
Dayton observed, “The two worlds really serve each other. We’ve worked with cinematographer Linus Sandgren on commercials for years. We have a relationship and a shorthand. We brought Linus on board to shoot Battle of the Sexes, after he had won the Oscar for La La Land. Commercials are a great place to build relationships. We’ve also used actors in features whom we first met in commercials.”
Faris and Dayton’s body of spot work includes such clients as Apple, the NBA, GAP and Sony PlayStation. The directorial duo currently has a window of availability for commercials and branded content via their long-time ad roost, Bob Industries.
“After spending two and a half years on Battle of the Sexes, we’re happy to move back into commercials for a stretch,” said Dayton, citing the allure of instant gratification. “You talk about a commercial, you’re hired, you make it, and it’s on the air in a month. It’s so satisfying to work with great writers and interesting thinkers to create something that’s hopefully entertaining and emotionally moving, and then see the work out there so soon in the marketplace.”
