A24 is getting the band back together. According The Hollywood Reporter, the studio is re-teaming with The Curse’s Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder on Checkmate. Based on a book proposal by Ben Mezrich, the feature will tell the story of the Carlsen-Niemann chess scandal. You know, the one with the (seemingly disproven) anal beads? Mezrich wrote the books-turned-flicks The Social Network and Dumb Money, so you can see why A24 was stoked to get moving on this thing. THR says deals are still being inked, but Fielder will hopefully direct with Stone producing alongside her husband, Dave McCary.
Who can forget in 2022 when a cheating scandal in chess briefly made us all go “Wait, what? Where?†Chess “bad boy†Hans Niemann was accused of cheating by grandmaster Magnus Carlsen. The accusations went low. Really low. Niemann eventually sued Carlsen, Chess.com, Play Magnus Group, and another grandmaster, Hikaru Nakamura, for defamation. Chess.com settled and Carlsen said in a statement that he’d play Niemann again.