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Throughout Aaron Sorkin’s body of work, he’s constantly railing against tabloid culture. The Newsroom, in particular, focused on the divide between real journalism (reporting & investigating current events) versus gossiping hacks (who celebrity [x] is dating). In his directorial debut Molly’s Game, Sorkin turns what was a tabloid story – Molly ran a high-stakes poker game with a number of very prominent celebrities – into a story deriding this very culture. The tabloids often painted Molly as some sort of super-sexualized celebrity informant, dishing dirt on the rich and famous. Sorkin’s film, however, reveals the opposite to be true – Molly (Jessica Chastain), in fact, was offered millions to reveal juicy gossip but refused to do so even at the risk of jail time and financial ruin. She’s a quintessential ‘Sorkin hero’, standing up for her morals and refusing to bend to the will of ‘gossip’.

In the following interview with Aaron Sorkin, he discusses his hatred towards gossip culture, meeting Molly Bloom for the first time, and whether he intends to ever direct The Politician (chronicling John Edward’s extra-marital scandal and the fallout afterwards). For the full interview, watch above.

Aaron Sorkin:

• What is it about Molly Bloom and her story that made Sorkin want to write/direct a film about her?
• How did Molly change Sorkin’s initial perception of her?
• What is Sorkin’s stance on tabloid culture?
• Has this distaste for gossip & tabloid culture always been on Sorkin’s mind?
• Does he still intend to direct The Politician?

Here’s the official synopsis for Molly’s Game:

MOLLY’S GAME is based on the true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans and finally, unbeknownst to her, the Russian mob. Her only ally was her criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey, who learned that there was much more to Molly than the tabloids led us to believe.