Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder co-starred in the Showtime series The Curse, which aired its finale in January. The series was co-created by Fielder and Benny Safdie and produced by A24, and Stone’s roles in The Curse and Poor Things (for which she won an Oscar for Best Actress) solidified her as “The New Queen Of Cringe Comedy,” according to Uproxx’s Danielle Ryan.
A24, Fielder, and Stone are reportedly continuing their successful working relationship. According to The Hollywood Reporter, A24 is attached to Checkmate, “a hot feature package centered on a book proposal by Ben Mezrich, the author whose books were adapted into films such The Social Network and Dumb Money.”
THR‘s Borys Kit reported that, “if deals close,” Fielder will direct and Stone “will produce along with her husband and partner Dave McCary via the duo’s Fruit Tree banner. […] Sources say the book deal is closing or has closed while the talent deals are still being hammered out.” A24’s offer “guaranteed seven figures” and “was swiftly accepted,” according to Kit’s sources.
Additionally, Kit relayed the purported Checkmate premise, as excerpted below:
“Per the proposal that was being circulated, the book will spotlight the biggest scandal in the history of chess, focusing on the generational battle between Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen and the young bad boy of chess, Hans Niemann. The latter was accused of cheating in one of the pair’s head-to-head matches, which became an all-consuming scandal in the world of chess and beyond. Per the package, the story is not only about the rivalry and the scandal, but the macro backdrop is the rise of a billion dollar chess industry and so-called ‘collision of tradition and innovation’ in the game.”