Aaron Sorkin On Becoming A Director With ‘Molly’s Game’: “You Don’t Finish A Movie, It Just Gets Confiscated” – Behind The Lens

Aaron Sorkin has waited a long time to make his directorial debut. The acclaimed and much rewarded writer of such screenplays as Moneyball, Steve Jobs, Charlie Wilson’s War, A Few Good Men, his Oscar-winning The Social Network as well as creator and writer of TV shows like The West Wing and Sports Night tells me never once thought about stepping behind the camera to try his hand at directing until Molly Bloom came along.  In the latest episode of my new Deadline video series “Behind the Lens,” in which directors talk about the vision and process of their work, Sorkin discusses the reasons that drove him to taking on the reins not just as writer but also as director of Molly’s Game, the story of a champion skier who later would become a notorious poker madam for high stakes card games in LA and Vegas.

It’s all true, and Sorkin tells me how inspired he was to tell Bloom’s story from a POV she hadn’t even thought about when she wrote her book. In our discussion he talks about the “deeper story” that he discovered, as well as surrounding himself with the best possible people including star Jessica Chastain in order to make this transition behind the lens a seamless one. “Like it or not, this is the movie I wanted to make,” he says. Having Kevin Costner on set in a supporting role was inspiration for his own work as Costner is a hero of his both as actor and director.  Sorkin also plans a live TV production of his play A Few Good Men next season on NBC and notes that it is one of his works that he continually revisits and has never really stopped writing.  To watch our conversation, just click on the link above.