MOLLY’S GAME to screen as Gala Premiere

Aaron Sorkin: photo credit MasterClass

Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) Directors Nadja Schildknecht and Karl Spoerri announced today that Aaron Sorkin will receive the Festival’s Career Achievement Award at this year’s Festival, which takes place from September 28 to October 8, 2017.

The Academy-Award® winning screenwriter and renowned playwright will receive the Award for his life’s work on October 4 at the Corso Cinema. The presentation will be followed by a Gala Premiere screening of his latest film and directorial debut MOLLY’S GAME, which stars Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba and Kevin Costner.

Said the Festival's Co-Directors Nadja Schildknecht and Karl Spoerri: "Aaron Sorkin is not only regarded as one of US cinema's greatest screenwriters, he is also widely acknowledged as the writer of several legendary plays and as the celebrated creator of THE WEST WING, one of the most acclaimed TV series ever made, which began in 1999 and sees Martin Sheen play the US President. We are immensely proud to welcome Aaron Sorkin to Zurich, screen his directorial debut MOLLY’S GAME and present him with this year's ZFF Career Achievement Award."  

Aaron Sorkin

Mr. Sorkin made his Broadway playwriting debut at the age of 28 with the military courtroom drama “A Few Good Men”, for which he received the John Gassner Award as ‘Outstanding New American Playwright’. The following year saw the debut of his off-Broadway play, “Making Movies”, and in 2007 he returned to Broadway with “The Farnsworth Invention”, directed by Des McAnuff.

In 1993, Mr. Sorkin’s film adaptation of A FEW GOOD MEN was nominated for four Academy Awards®, including ‘Best Picture,’ and five Golden Globes, including ‘Best Screenplay.’ He followed this success with the screenplays for MALICE, starring Alec Baldwin and Nicole Kidman, THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT, starring Michael Douglas and Annette Bening, and CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR starring Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Julia Roberts.

In 2011, Mr. Sorkin won the Academy Award®, Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and Bafta for 'Best Adapted Screenplay' for THE SOCIAL NETWORK. He also won the Writers Guild Award and the USC Scripter Award. The film, directed by David Fincher, was nominated for eight Academy Awards including 'Best Picture', was named 'Best Drama' at the Golden Globes and appeared on over 350 critics’ lists of the top ten films of 2010.

In 2012, Mr. Sorkin adapted MONEYBALL along with Steve Zaillian and story by Stan Chervin. The film, which was directed by Bennett Miller and starred Brad Pitt, won Mr. Sorkin the Critics Choice Award and New York Film Critics Award for 'Best Adapted Screenplay'. It also earned four Academy Award® nominations including 'Best Picture' and 'Best Adapted Screenplay'.  In 2016 his work on STEVE JOBS brought a Golden Globe award for ‘Best Screenplay,’ as well as nominations for a Broadcast Film Critics’ Association (BFCA) Critics’ Choice Award, Writers Guild Award, and multiple regional critics’ association awards.

For television, Mr. Sorkin created and produced the NBC series THE WEST WING which earned nine Emmy nominations in its first season. The series went on to win a total of 26 Emmy Awards, including the prize for ‘Outstanding Drama Series’ four consecutive times. For his work on the series, Mr. Sorkin twice received the Peabody Award and the Humanitas Prize, as well as three Television Critics Association Awards and Producers Guild Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Writers Guild Award.

Other series created by Mr. Sorkin include SPORTS NIGHT for ABC, which won the Humanitas Prize, the Television Critics Association Award, and garnered eight Emmy nominations; STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP, which received five Emmy nominations, and HBO drama THE NEWSROOM, which won a Critics’ Choice Television Award for ‘Most Exciting New Series’ and saw Jeff Daniels win an Emmy for ‘Best Actor’.  The show was nominated for numerous awards, including five Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award for ‘Best Television – Drama’, a WGA, and DGA Award.

Alongside MOLLY’S GAME Mr. Sorkin is in various stages of production on two exciting and notable projects. He is writing a stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s iconic American novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” set to show during the 2017-2018 season, with Scott Rudin producing. Sorkin is also returning to NBC with an exciting live presentation of his own Broadway play “A Few Good Men.” Craig Zadan and Neil Meron will be executive producing alongside Mr. Sorkin.

MOLLY’S GAME

MOLLY’S GAME is based on the true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans and finally, unbeknownst to her, the Russian mob. Her only ally was her criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey, who learned that there was much more to Molly than the tabloids led us to believe.

Entertainment One (eOne) and The Mark Gordon Company financed the highly-anticipated feature. Mark Gordon and Matt Jackson produced with Amy Pascal via her Pascal Pictures banner. Leopoldo Gout served as an executive producer. eOne is directly distributing the film across its territories, and partners Sierra Affinity handled international sales.

MOLLY'S GAME is distributed by Ascot Elite in French-speaking Switzerland and will hit cinemas there on February 21, 2018. A release date for German-speaking Switzerland has not yet been set.

The full ZFF programme will be unveiled at the Festival press conference on Thursday 14 September.