Danny Boyle is making a (presumably hyperactive) movie about a famous tennis rivalry

By A.A. Dowd | February 20, 2014 | 11:21pm

Aux Features Film

The last time Danny Boyle tackled real life, he managed to give the true story of a guy stuck in one place for several days the energy of a Mountain Dew commercial. If that’s how the British director approaches physical stasis, just imagine how he’ll film a couple people running around and hitting a ball back and forth. Though he’s said to be kicking around several projects—including that Trainspotting sequel we’re excited for/dreading—Boyle’s next film will reportedly be a biopic about tennis pro Billie Jean King. Rather than take the long view of its subject’s life, the movie will focus on her 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” match, in which King came out of retirement to put chauvinistic champion Bobby Riggs in his place. (The showdown was previously the subject of a 2001 TV movie, starring former Boyle collaborator Holly Hunter as King.)

Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours screenwriter Simon Beaufoy is penning the script, so audience should expect a little uplift with their epileptic seizures. And presumably, the cinematographer will be Anthony Dod Mantle, who shot Boyle’s last three movies and also Rush, based on another well-publicized 1970s athletic rivalry. If anyone can make tennis look as fast, kinetic, and headache-inducing as Formula One racing, it’s Boyle.