On the Basis of Sex: Felicity Jones stars as Ruth Bader Ginsburg next year

Anticipation is building for the New Year release of On the Basis of Sex, the biopic of American Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, starring Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything). After graduating top of her class from Columbia Law School, Ginsburg boldly advocated for women’s rights and gender equality throughout her legal career and was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993 - the second woman ever to be appointed.

The film charts Ginsburg’s early career and the groundbreaking sex discrimination cases she brought before the U.S. Supreme Court as a young lawyer, with the support of her eternally supportive husband, Marty Ginsburg, played by Armie Hammer (Call Me by Your Name).

Known to her fans as ‘The Notorious R.B.G.’, Ginsburg has become something of a feminist icon in the States. Now 85, Ginsburg continues to serve as a Justice, and when asked when there would be enough women on the Supreme Court, she famously responded, ‘when there are nine’.

The release of On the Basis of Sex will coincide with the 25th anniversary of Ginsburg’s appointment to the Supreme Court, and follows the hit success of RBG, a documentary by Betsy West and Julie Cohen released earlier this year. The film is also timely in light of the #MeToo movement and recent headlines concerning President Trump’s supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

On the Basis of Sex marks Felicity Jones’s most important role to date – she is said to have replaced Natalie Portman, who had been linked to the role of Ginsburg since 2015. Jones exhaustively studied Ginsburg’s physical mannerisms and distinctive Brooklyn accent in preparing for the role. She has paid tribute to Ginsburg as a ‘modern icon’, and acknowledged that women today ‘are seeing the fruits of Ruth’s work.’

The first-time screenplay is written by Daniel Stiepleman, Marty Ginsburg’s nephew, while female director Mimi Leder (The Peacemaker, Deep Impact), returns to director’s chair after an eighteen-year hiatus. She has described the film as “a real-life superhero origin story” which is “more relevant now than ever.”