-Congrats on the film. -Thanks very much.
-This is about Molly Bloom. This is a true life story.
-It's an absolutely true story.
Molly Bloom, in her 20s and 30s,
ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game.
Movie stars, sports stars, politicians,
hedge-fund managers, they would win or lose
millions of dollars in the course of a night,
sometimes in the course of a hand.
And it was all legal until she crossed a very thin line.
And even then, nobody --
She wasn't in trouble until she unknowingly
invited four members of the Russian Mafia
to play in the game. -Yeah.
-That's when the FBI got interested.
-That is a -- That is a problem.
In general, they say the limit
is three Russian mob guys at any --
-Yeah, and she invited four. -The fourth one's the killer.
-And also, unknowingly, an FBI informant.
Yeah, that's not very good. [ Laughter ]
-And the thing is, she was -- one of her --
her expertise was vetting players,
was knowing exactly who was sitting at her table.
So even though she was facing five years in jail,
she was mostly really embarrassed.
-Yeah. Oh, well.
This -- This movie has classic Aaron Sorkin dialogue,
which I'm a great fan of, but this is the first time
you directed and you ended up directing
a script written by Aaron Sorkin.
-Yeah. -Did you realize now
the difficulty that directors maybe have had
over the years directing your scripts?
-I don't under-- [ Laughter ]
Don't understand why at least three of them
haven't punched me in the face. [ Laughter ]
I called -- On the second day of shooting,
I called David Fincher, who directed "The Social Network."
And I said, "David, where do you have the actors breathe
when they're doing my stuff?"
and this is the sound he made -- [ Chuckles mischievously ]
[ Laughter ]
-You actually had an Oscar-winning director
on your film, which is Kevin Costner.
-Yes. Kevin was incredibly supportive,
incredibly encouraging.
He would remind me from time to time that
when he directed his first film, "Dances With Wolves,"
he had to worry about which direction
5,000 buffalo were gonna run when he called action.
-Yeah. -And were they gonna come back.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-But I talked to a number of directors,
including a friend of yours, Adam McKay.
-Uh-huh. "The Big Short."
-"The Big Short." Who was very encouraging.
Everybody -- I didn't write this movie
thinking I was gonna direct it.
When I write something,
I want the very best director to direct it.
That's never me. [ Light laughter ]
But I wrote it and delivered the first draft,
and the producers encouraged me to direct it.
And the thing is -- This is for real.
After describing all the glamour and the decadence and the money
and the poker and everything, the movie does have all of that,
but it's set against the backdrop of that.
It's actually -- and this isn't a joke --
it's a Christmas movie. -Really?
-It is a very -- Molly Bloom is a very inspirational,
aspirational character.
And, ultimately, it's a story about doing the right thing
when the wrong thing is a lot easier, more profitable,
can keep you out of jail.
Basically, she refused to dish on the players
who were playing in the game,
which is what the Justice Department wanted her to do.
-The other amazing thing about her story,
which is taken care of in the film,
is that she was an Olympic skier.
-That's right.
-So, obviously, there are many poker scenes in the film.
Directing that requires a level of skill,
but I imagine the technical expertise
required to shoot a skiing scene
is more intimidating as a first-time director.
-We were -- Yes. Molly Bloom came --
She was ranked third in North America
in women's moguls.
That's a form of skiing which is
tch tch tch tch tch, fwt fwt fwt, psh psh psh!
[ Laughter ]
It's just -- It looks like a terrible way to die.
[ Laughter ]
And she was ranked third in North America.
Came about 100 yards from making the U.S. Olympic ski team,
when -- This isn't a spoiler.
It happens in the first eight minutes.
When she literally and metaphorically
trips over a stick
and literally and metaphorically
flies way off course in her life.
Directing those scenes, we were on an actual World Cup slope,
which is 52 degrees.
It's slanted about like that.
Now, I have to tell you, honestly,
I have a problem on a flat surface that's dry.
[ Laughter ]
I fall down for no reason at all.
And I'm standing on this 52-degree ice wall,
trying to confidently give instructions to the crew,
to the stunt skiers,
to people who were used to this kind of thing.
And I would start out, "All right, on action,
we're gonna --" Fwt! and I would just fall down,
and somebody would lift me up.
"Okay, sorry. Guys, on action,
we're gonna cut -- Damn it!
[ Laughter ]
And it would take me 10 minutes
to get a direction out 'cause I just couldn't stand up.
And, finally, just two guys on the crew
just held me up under each arm while I directed the movie.
It was humiliating. -I think, you know, it's --
When you think of Molly Bloom and this incredible story,
it almost seems sad
that a man who couldn't even stand in snow --
-No, I couldn't even stand in the snow.
And, by the way, also, can't -- I can't play poker.
I'm not a poker player.
But all of the extras in the poker scenes
were professional poker players. I wanted it that way.
Professional poker players have a way of handling cards
and chips that's just different from me and you.
Now, extras are paid about $90 for a 12-hour day.
They're not paid very much at all.
But they didn't care, because every big-shot actor
that came in, like Michael Cera and Chris O'Dowd,
would come in and do their poker scenes.
Any time we were changing lenses, changing lighting,
moving the cameras, the dealer, who was a professional dealer,
would just start to deal a round.
The actors would always want to play with the pros.
The actors went home without their pants.
[ Laughter ]
And the extras were the highest-paid actors on the set.
-Well, there's something fitting about that, as well.
-Yeah. -Congratulations.
It's really a wonderful film. -Thanks very much.
-Congratulations on the Golden Globe nomination.
-I appreciate it. Christmas Day!
-Christmas Day! Aaron Sorkin, everybody!
"Molly's Game," Christmas Day, nationwide on January 5th!