Israeli-born American actress Natalie Portman insisted on a female director to handle the Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic, which would be handled by Focus Features.
Ginsburg was an Associate Justice for the Supreme Court of the United States. She will be remembered in history as the second female justice after Sarah O'Connor and the first Jewish female justice.
Speaking to MSNBC, Ginsburg herself explained why Portman, who would be playing her in the biopic wanted a female touch to the movie even though it meant that the movie would be stalled a bit because of it.
"Natalie Portman came to talk to me about the film landing a female director, and we had a very good conversation. And one thing, interesting, that she insisted on, it held up the project for a while. 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," she said.
The job went to "Diary of a Teenage Girl" director Marielle Heller. Meanwhile, the script was written by the nephew of Ginsburg's late husband Martin Ginsburg.
"He asked if he could write a script about a case in which Marty and I were involved in 1971," Ginsburg said. "And I said, 'Yes, if you like to spend your time doing that.'"
The case involved Charles Moritz, a never-married man who was denied a tax deduction because only women or divorced men were considered caregivers under the law. Ginsburg wanted the Supreme Court justices would see that sex discrimination harmed everyone so she tried to pair the case involving a woman. Sadly, only the woman's case, Reed v. Reed, made it to the Supreme Court.
When asked about young women's growing interest in liberal justice, including the upcoming book about Ginsburg's life, the female Justice admitted that the attention and adulation really feels overwhelming.
"It's amazing," Ginsburg said. "To think of me, an icon, at 82?"
She was also asked if Supreme Court Justices ever persuade each other to change their minds about certain cases, and she offered up an honest answer to the highly debated question.
"Possible? Yes," Ginsburg revealed. "Is it something that happens often? No. It is largely on paper. It is, read my dissent. Read carefully. You should be persuaded by it."
She served office from June 30, 1980 to August 10, 1993.
