The new biopic about Ruth Bader Ginsburg is so worth your time. But you don’t have to take our word for it — apparently even the Supreme Court Justice herself thinks so.
According her nephew, Daniel Stiepleman, who wrote the screenplay for On the Basis of Sex, Ginsburg has already seen it multiple times.
Ginsburg is helping to promote the film, which is about the early rise of her career. Now that they’re doing press, one evening Stiepleman said he offered to have dinner with his 85-year-old aunt, instead of having to sit through yet another screening.
Ginsburg, however, declined. She wanted to see On the Basis of Sex for a third time.
Stiepleman explained to Kveller why he thinks she loves the film: “She gets Marty back for a couple hours.” (Did you hear that? That’s the sound of our heart cracking open.)
The Justice’s husband, Marty Ginsburg, passed away in 2010 at age 78 after a long struggle with cancer. The couple’s love story forms the heart of On the Basis of Sex — how her husband supported her in every move she made, and how their relationship was a true partnership.
According to Stiepleman, “I don’t think you would have a Ruth Bader Ginsburg without a Marty Ginsburg.”
In the film, Armie Hammer plays the loving husband. (Which many people approve of... possibly on many levels!) Stiepleman thinks he is perfectly cast: he nails Marty’s charm, confidence, charisma, and intellect. Same goes for Felicity Jones, who tackles the role of RBG herself.
“As someone who has known Ruth and Marty Ginsburg my whole life,” Stiepleman tells Kveller, “Armie and Felicity are just uncanny in the roles. It’s really — it’s incredible.”
Almost as incredible as the Ginsburgs’ real-life love story.
