Felicity Jones On The ‘Biggest Challenge’ of Playing Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Felicity Jones and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Image by GETTY IMAGES/FORWARD MONTAGE
Supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg didn’t get the nickname “notorious” by staying quiet and keeping her questions to herself. Actress Felicity Jones says Ginsburg hit her with tough questions the first time they met, when Jones was preparing to portray Ginsburg in the upcoming biopic, “On the Basis of Sex.”
“When I first met Ruth, she said ‘You speak the Queen’s English and I’m a girl from Brooklyn. How is that going to work?’” Jones told Yahoo News. Jones remembers staring at Ginsburg, thinking “You have set the gauntlet.” The 34 year-old actress says that in spite of her fears, “I just went for it.”
Jones, who has consistently enchanted audiences from her Oscar nominated performance in the Stephen Hawkins biopic “The Theory of Everything” to her leading role in “Star Wars: Rogue One,” is a strong choice to play Ginsburg. Known for her sharp intellect and the depth of her characters, Jones even seems to have obtained the Justice’s blessing.
“We went Washington before we started shooting and hung out and went out for dinner,” Jones said. “She really welcomed us into her home.” Casually as if not remarking on visiting a living legend’s home, Jones commented, “She was totally on board from the very beginning.”
Ah, bliss. After being gently bullied by a reporter, Jones went on to acknowledge that there are similarities between her “Star Wars” character Jyn Erso and Justice Ginsburg, which include: “absolute determination…never, ever giving up, and ultimately achieving what they want.”
Jenny Singer is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion Yes, the attack on Gov. Shapiro was antisemitic. Here’s what the left should learn from it
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to a Jewish society at Yale exposed deep rifts between US Jews
-
Fast Forward On his first trip to Auschwitz, New Jersey governor urges vigilance against rising antisemitism
-
Fast Forward Survivors of the Holocaust and Oct. 7 embrace at Auschwitz, marking annual March of the Living
-
Fast Forward Could changes at the FDA call the kosher status of milk into question? Many are asking.
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
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 comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag 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.