Natalie Portman to Play Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Get the scoop on the upcoming film On the Basis of Sex

By Brett Malec May 08, 2015 10:43 PMTags
Natalie Portman, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader GinsburgGetty Images

Natalie Portman has some big shoes to fill (or should we say little, based on her height?).

The 33-year-old Oscar winner is set to play Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the upcoming movie On the Basis of Sex, E! News has confirmed.

According to Deadline, who first broke the story, the film will follow "the travails of Ginsburg as she faced numerous obstacles to her fight for equal rights throughout her career." The script was written by Daniel Stiepleman. Marielle Heller, who directed the 2015 drama The Diary of a Teenage Girl, is in talks to direct.

Ginsburg, who is now 82, was appointed to the Supreme Court back in 1993 by President Bill Clinton. She's only the second female Supreme Court Justice and the first Jewish female on the Supreme Court (not so coincidentally, Portman is also Jewish).

According to Deadline, production on On the Basis of Sex will hopefully start before the end of the year.

In addition to the new casting news, Portman also has A Tale of Love and Darkness premiering at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival next week. She wrote, directed and starred in the film, which follows the story of one man's solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

—Reporting by Lindsay Good