TIFF 2017: JESSICA CHASTAIN & IDRIS ALBA SET THE STAKES HIGH IN MOLLY’S GAME MOVIE

Growing up in a family of overachievers, losing wasn’t an option for childhood skiing prodigy Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain).

But after a freak accident at the US Olympic trials ends her career, she moves to Hollywood and tries something new: poker. Working as a personal assistant by day and a poker hostess by night, it’s not long before Molly’s talent and entrepreneurial spirit find her running her own game.

“What fascinated me about the character… is the idea of our modern society and what it means for a woman to find success. What does she have to become for men to allow her to be a leader?” —Jessica Chastain

Transformed into the “Princess of Poker,” Molly’s game, abounding with Hollywood A-listers and business tycoons, became the most exclusive and discreet. But when Molly becomes the target of an FBI investigation, her former clients are nowhere to be found. With her lawyer Charlie Jaffey (Idris Elba) as her only ally, will she still support them?

“What fascinated me about the character — and a lot of this from meeting Molly — is the idea of our modern society and what it means for a woman to find success. What does she have to become for men to allow her to be a leader? Because I think that this is a very interesting time for women in the United States to ask that question,” Chastain tells ew.com.

“Molly kind of goes into that rabbit hole of trying to become what she believes will give her access and the power to the elusive male dynamic, and for me, that was a very interesting character to play and journey to go on, and you see that a lot in the film. You see where she begins and where she ends and the journey of what that is.”