Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut, Molly’s Game, has already drawn in a fair amount of high-profile talent, including Idris Elba and Jessica Chastain. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Arrested Development and Scott Pilgrim star Michael Cera might also be signing on for Sorkin’s tale of high-stakes poker among the Hollywood elite.
Sorkin’s film centers on Molly Bloom, a former Olympic hopeful who found herself running some of Los Angeles’ most expensive, and most lavish, underground poker games in the 2000s and early 2010s. Before she was taken down by the FBI in 2013, Bloom allegedly hosted players like Ben Affleck and Leonardo DiCaprio in big-money games, rubbing elbows and playing cards with billionaires looking to lose their money to their favorite stars.
Cera will reportedly play “Player X” in the film version of Bloom’s 2014 memoir, a mysterious celebrity who develops a “unique relationship” with the sharp-minded organizer. It’s not clear if Cera’s character is based on a specific celeb, or if he’s intended as a composite character, but it certainly sounds like he might be acting as a stand-in for Tobey Maguire. The former Spider-Man is mentioned several times in Bloom’s book, and has a notorious reputation as Hollywood’s most dangerous poker player, reportedly winning hundreds of thousands from hapless hedge fund managers. (Plus, if you squint a little, you can totally see the resemblance between the two.)