To play Billie Jean King in the upcoming movie, Battle Of The Sexes, Emma Stone didn't rely on movie magic, she truly became the tennis legend. And Stone did this by enacting an intense training regimen that resulted in her adding 15 pounds of lean muscle to her body. Hey, she's not the world's highest paid actress for nothing.
Entertainment Tonight reported that, for the film, which looks at King's 1973 tennis match against Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell), who quickly turned it into a battle of the sexes, hence the title, with his sexist remarks, Stone "did a lot of weightlifting, tennis, and studied [King's] way of being, physically."
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Stone called playing King the "most physical role I've done in certain ways." It's not hard to see why. Stone's trainer Jason Walsh, who works with other celebs like Hilary Duff and Jessica Biel, told Glamour that she "kind of became a meathead" while filming Battle Of The Sexes, chugging protein drinks after her two-a-day training sessions that focused on weightlifting. This included having her push a 200-pound sled around.
Walsh admits that Stone wasn't great at lifting when she first started, but by the end of her training she was deadlifting 185 pounds. Turns out, Stone's jacked arms are the real star of this film, out September 22.
But Stone wasn't just serious about getting into fighting shape, she also wanted to make sure she had mastered King's every move. She didn't talk to King, but instead watching old footage in hopes of understanding who she was then instead of now. Stone admits this may have been a bit off-putting for the tennis great.
"I was a real creep," Stone told Entertainment Weekly. "I still am with her a little bit. If we do an interview or we’re sitting and talking, I find myself just like staring at her and watching how she’s moving all the time — which I don’t need to do any more. But that’s how I relate to her. I’m like her creepy friend now."
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