Natalie Portman Wouldn't Play Notorious RBG Until the Movie Got a Female Director, Says Notorious RBG

#newswelike

Natalie Portman
(Image credit: Getty)

Update, 6/16: BFD: Natalie Portman and Ruth Bader Ginsburg 1) have spoken with each other before and 2) have spoken with each other before about Natalie Portman playing Notorious RBG in a movie about Notorious RBG.

According to MSNBC, the actress told the Supreme Court Justice/Badass in Chief she refused to proceed with the project until a female director was found. "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." (Reportedly Marielle Heller, who headed up Diary of a Teenage Girl.)

Doesn't this just warm the cockles of your equality-seeking heart?

Notorious RBG


(Image credit: Giphy)

Original post, 5/14: She gets a bajillion movie offers every day, but when Natalie Portman pulled these two from the Jenga pile on her desk, she whole-arm-swiped all those lesser scripts into the trash. Probably.

Exciting Role #1: Jackie Kennedy. According to Variety, the Oscar winner will star as the First Lady in Jackie, set in the first four days after JFK's assassination when she "lost the love of her life but won the love of a nation." (Bleh—their words, not mine.) Darren Aronofsky will produce.

Exciting Role #2: Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Deadline reports that the internet has done it—generated enough interest in Notorious RBG that she's getting her own movie. The plot will follow the Supreme Court justice and pre-SOTU personality-nip-taker as she overcomes "numerous obstacles" in her fight for women's rights. Will they tell the story of her lace jabots? How about when she made the Harvard Law Review while taking care of her daughter and sick husband?

Production for both reportedly starts at the end of the year, which—fingers crossed—means they'll be released blessedly ahead ofFifty Shades: The Do-Over.

Assistant Editor

Chelsea Peng is a writer and editor who was formerly the assistant editor at Marie Claire. She's also worked for The Strategist and Refinery29, and is a graduate of Northwestern University. On her tombstone, she would like a GIF of herself that's better than the one that already exists on the Internet and a free fro-yo machine. Besides frozen dairy products, she's into pirates, carbs, Balzac, and snacking so hard she has to go lie down.