Felicity Jones isn’t taking anybody’s shit in a new trailer for Mimi Leder’s “On the Basis of Sex.” The biopic sees her playing Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and more specifically, the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court’s time as a young lawyer working on a history-making case. Ruth teams up with her husband, Marty (Armie Hammer), to challenge gender discrimination, taking the case all the way to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
The spot sees Ruth and other women attending law school being asked why they’re “occupying a place that could have gone to a man.” She claims — not at all convincingly — that she’s there to learn more about her husband’s work as a lawyer so she can be a more “patient and understanding wife.” But really, the pair plan to “topple the whole damn system of discrimination.”
Scoffed at for thinking gender equality is a civil right, Ruth refuses to back down, despite being mocked by some and told that she could set back women’s rights if she loses by others. And Marty’s got her back — he’s her biggest cheerleader.
Ginsburg is the subject of another 2018 film, Julie Cohen and Betsy West’s “RBG.” The documentary grossed over $14 million at the box office.
A limited series about RBG and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is also the works. The project hails from Alyssa Milano’s Peace by Peace Productions and Denise Di Novi and Nina Tassler’s PatMa Productions.
Jones received an Oscar nod for her performance in “The Theory of Everything.” “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and “A Monster Calls” are among her recent credits.
Leder’s credits include “The Leftovers” and “Deep Impact.” She won an Emmy for her work on “ER.”
“On the Basis of Sex” opens in select theaters December 25.
