EXCLUSIVE: Natalie Portman is set to play Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in On The Basis Of Sex, with Marielle Heller (The Diary Of A Teenage Girl) in negotiations to direct. Focus Features is in talks to come onboard to finance.
The script, which follows the travails of Ginsburg as she faced numerous obstacles to her fight for equal rights throughout her career, was written by Daniel Stiepleman and made the 2014 Black List. Robert W. Cort is producing with Ram Bergman exec producing.
Ginsberg was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993 by then-President Clinton, becoming only the second female justice (after Sandra Day O’Connor) and the first Jewish female justice. Prior to that, she developed a reputation as a keen advocate for the advancement of women’s rights. Time magazine this year labeled her an “Icon” in its Time 100.
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The classy project is coming together quickly with a hoped-for production start by the end of the year. That would put it ahead of Alex Garland’s sci-fi project Annihilation, for which Portman has been rumored.
This is fast becoming a banner year for the Oscar-winning Portman, who has earned her own reputation for good taste and being meticulous and deliberate in her choice of projects. Her directorial debut A Tale Of Love And Darkness, which she also adapted from Israeli author Amos Oz’s classic memoir, receives its world premiere next week in Official Selection at Cannes. That follows her well-received performance in Terrence Malick’s Knight Of Cups, which world premiered at Berlin in February.
Also in Portman’s pipelines are Weightless, another Malick collaboration, and Jane Got A Gun. She also produced the latter as well as the upcoming Pride And Prejudice And Zombies.
This also is proving a breakout year for Heller. Her directorial debut Diary Of A Teenage Girl earned critical raves at Sundance, where Sony Pictures Classics 
picked up North American and select international rights. The film, which Heller also wrote, stars Kristin Wiig and Bel Powley. It follows a 15-year-old aspiring comic book artist who comes of age in 1970s San Francisco and is insatiably curious about the world around her.
Heller is repped by UTA and attorney PJ Shapiro. Portman is repped by CAA. Stiepleman is repped by Gersh and Anonymous Content.
Is this a some sort of joke?
Instead, how about a film about Sandra Day O’Connor. In 1981, Ronald Reagan made her the FIRST WOMAN to be appointed to the Supreme Court. That truth is certainly not taught in American schools.
Oh, that right, Reagan was a Republican and we have to pretend it never happened in order to keep pushing the liberal agenda.
Um, American schools definitely learn that O’Connor was the first woman appointed to SCOTUS. However, unlike RBG, O’Connor’s early career, while also filled with discrimination against her on the basis of her sex, did not consist of advocating on behalf of women’s rights in front of the Supreme Court.
Why her. Why not an actress that is older. This is what is wrong with Hollywood. I guess Jessica Alba will play Sonia Sotomayor
It’s a bioepic… It’s easier to make a young actress look old than an old actress look young.
Please. The hotness level should be similar.
You may be surprised.. this is a young Ruth Bader Ginsberg…
Not.
YUCK! More politically-charged feminist dribble…
Takes place during the Clinton years, so again, more of the Hollywood Hillary push.
And let me guess – an October 2016 release? LOL…
According to your posts the casting of all women now is about a push for Hillary. The pattern seems to indicate that you find the very existence of women to be “feminist dribble (sic).” Also, it doesn’t say it takes place in the Clinton years, merely that that was when she was appointed to the Supreme Court.
No.
If you are referring to my post on the ‘Independence Day’ sequel earlier this week, THAT is Hillary propaganda because a conscious creative decision is made to have ‘generic female president’ the same year as one is the presumtive Democrat nominee (the same way Gina Davis’ failed series ‘Commander-In-Chief’ was launched before Clinton’s first run).
But the Ginsberg biopic is a double-edgd sword: a reminder of how “great” the Clinton years were (in the eyes of Hollywood anyway) and more gender-identity politics behind the life story (which is sure to feature heavily in Hillary’s playbook)
Point is – this is nothing new from Hollywood (look at all the fundraisers they hold for her), and I’m on to said attemps of propaganda
By your reasoning, any movie that dares to cast a woman as anything other than a murder victim, a stripper, a hooker, or a bit part shrill wife/girlfriend etc. (i.e. most female roles) is propaganda as long as a democrat woman is running for office.
Not at all! Your claim makes a broad generalization on simply casting females for non-traditional female roles (which is not my issue).
I consume entertainment with women playing MDs, attorneys, cops, spies etc all the time and I make no correlation there with pushing a pro-Hillary agenda.
My beef is Hollywood catering leading fiction roles of political/governmental characters seen in positions of high power (such as the ‘Independence Day’ sequel, CBS’s ‘Madam Secretary’ or HBO’s ‘VEEP’), OR a historical biopic about a real-life person appointed by a former president who MAY become First Gentleman).
In both examples, it is a subliminal desensitization and indoctrination of seeing females-in-office and/or pro-Clinton material on the eve of Hillary’s next run.
Quite shameful and petty…
Well Carly Florina is also running for president. Could this not be a push for her? Could the acceptance of women in television roles work for Republican female candidates too, you conspiracy-peddling loon?
Wow, Portman’s going to be in the make-up chair for hours.
No comment, but lots of grinning going on here at your comment.
Portman can do most anything, but I would not hold my breath that the “hoped for start date” will happen by the “end of the year”. If it doesn’t get going relatively soon… it may just get lost in development hell for a long time.
Truly, I do not believe Ruth Ginsburg is a box office draw no matter how interesting her fight for women’s rights may have been. Perhaps, and it would not be the first time…I am completely wrong.
Doesn’t make sense. Ruth Bader Ginsberg is WAY hotter than Natalie Portman. So much for reality.
The Notorious RBG gets a movie. Nice! Portman better take RBG out for drinks in order to fully understand her. Ha!
No!!! Kate McKinnon!
2 new projects, this is awesome! Lets hope they both work out :D
Finally, the passionate clamor for a Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic is answered. If the talent and production can just get their families to the theater, the box office expectations of $100 may actually be realized.
This was a great script. Excited to see it move forward. Also, for those noting an age discrepancy, the story follows RBG while she’s in the early part of her career (in her 20s).
And Portman will be 34 in June so her age is wrong for the role
Natalie Portman as that old witch? What next? Zac Efron as Karl Rove?
No actually they cast Harry Potter to play Karl Rove earlier this week.
The suits at Focus said, HEY GUYS!! LETS MAKE MORE CRAP THAT NO ON WANTS TO SEE!! Then they tapped a keg.
Hopefully a good film, but this article reads like a North Korean PR piece. May the great actress scale the heights of the tallest mountain with her meticulous taste.
They’re going to have to reeeaallly ugly her up. portman must be angling for another Oscar.
But Oscar is a false idol LOL
Sounds good, except for the “throughout her career” part. Can anyone give me a recommendation of a “life of” film that actually worked?
I’m just going to ignore the rampant childish sexist bulls**t of half the commentators here and point out that the script is set in the early days of RBG’s career. So Ms. Portman is completely age appropriate.
No, now they’ll just say she’s too old (see above, unless that comment was made ironically). Seriously. In one thread there are people saying she’s both too young, AND too old to play this part.
Portman could still easily play a 20-something. Hell, DiCaprio played a 22-year old (thereabouts) in Wolf of Wall Street’s early scenes, and he’s about 40 (although it was very hard to buy, IMO).
Yeah, lets celebrate an America hating actress play an America hating radical left winger. The general public could really careless about RBG. How about a story on Clarence Thomas, that would be worthwhile.
Jim, the only “hate” here is your personal self-hatred. Leave women and the majority of thinking people on earth alone. Please.
If they do the Clarence Thomas story, as you suggest, and they film any Supreme Court scenes, there won’t be a lot of dialogue on his part. He hasn’t spoken at all during Supreme Court oral arguments in over seven years.
well, it could be a silent movie…
Portman looks a lot like a young Bader Gingsburg. Great choice.
This lady is highly overpraised and mediocre like her peers Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Lawrence, to name a few. I saw Natalie in the Public Theater’s The Seagull. Talk about being lost with bad acting, no stage presence, and no personality. It was all very embarrassing. She needs a strong director that would not be intimated by her, so can force her to give a decent performance.
please don’t mention jennifer lawrence , she’s a great actress ..
What nonsense….Jennifer Lawrence is beyond anycriticism.She makes blockbusters and award worthy roles out of otherwise insignificant and superficial roles .
This is pathetic! One of our country’s foremost minds, Ginsburg, being played by such a light weight who is pretty, but has no capacity to play complex characters!! Who made this stupid decision???
From Wikipedia: “As a student, Portman co-authored two research papers that were published in scientific journals. Her 1998 high school paper, “A Simple Method to Demonstrate the Enzymatic Production of Hydrogen from Sugar”, co-authored with scientists Ian Hurley and Jonathan Woodward, was entered in the Intel Science Talent Search. In 2002, she contributed to a study on memory called “Frontal Lobe Activation during Object Permanence: Data from Near-Infrared Spectroscopy” during her psychology studies at Harvard. This publication placed Portman among a very small number of professional actors with a defined Erdős–Bacon number.”
That tidbit should come in handy when playing Six Degrees of Erdos-Bacon…
Pretentious bullshit.
Is it really, though? What part?
Portman will be 34 in June. RBG was 38 to 45 in the years (1971-78) when she appeared before the Supreme Court to argue and win landmark sex equality cases. At the same time, I imagine the film will also portray RBG’s years in law school, when she was in her 20s. I don’t think Portman’s age is a major issue. A far greater obstacle is getting a good script .