Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

When Ruth Bader Ginsberg Met Natalie Portman

In a true “life imitates art” moment, it seems Natalie Portman and Ruth Bader Ginsberg had a little chat about women’s rights.

The actress, who will be playing the Supreme Court Justice in the upcoming biopic, was insistent that the film’s director be a woman, during the American Constitution Society’s convention on Sunday.

“Natalie Portman came to talk to me about this, and we had a very good conversation,” Ginsburg said. “And one thing, interesting, that she insisted on, it held up the project for awhile. She said, ‘I want the director to be a woman. There are not enough women in this industry. There are many talented out there.’ And now they do have a woman director.”

Marielle Heller, most recently known for her critically acclaimed “Diary of a Teenage Girl,” will be directing the film. The script comes courtesy of the nephew of RBG’s late husband, Martin Ginsburg.

“On the Basis of Sex” will focus on Ginsburg’s work as an attorney in the 1970s, and particularly on the Reed vs. Reed case heard by the Supreme Court in 1971.

As for her viral celebrity status? RBG’s staying modest. “It’s amazing,” she told Liu. “To think of me, an icon, at 82?”

Watch the whole interview here:

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.