Open Road Buys Chadwick Boseman's Thurgood Marshall Movie
Chadwick Boseman has had a good year so far. His portrayal of Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War was one of the best parts of the film, riling fans up for The Black Panther movie coming in 2018. Now, another movie that Boseman is tied to has been bought.
Open Road Films recently acquired all U.S. rights to Marshall, featuring Boseman as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and Josh Gad as lawyer Samuel Friedman. The movie will be based on a young Marshall defending a black chauffeur in 1941 against his wealthy employer in a sexual assault and attempted murder trial. The true incident was one of Marshall's career-defining cases prior to being appointed to the Supreme Court. As Deadline reported on the film:
"As the nation teeters on the brink of WWII, a nearly bankrupt NAACP sends Marshall to conservative Connecticut to defend a black chauffeur against his wealthy socialite employer in a sexual assault and attempted murder trial that quickly became tabloid fodder. In need of a high profile victory but muzzled by a segregationist court, Marshall is partnered with Samuel Friedman, a young Jewish lawyer who has never tried a case. Marshall and Friedman struggle against a hostile storm of fear and prejudice, driven to discover the truth in the sensationalized trial which helped set the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement to come."
Boseman and Gad will be joined by Kate Hudson, Dan Stevens, James Cromwell, Sterling K. Brown and Keesha Sharp. Django Unchained producer Reginald Hudlin is directing; and Paula Wagner (Mission: Impossible and The Last Samurai) and Jonathan Wagner are producing. The film is also being produced with full support from the Marshall and Friedman estates, including their children John W. Marshall and Lauren Friedman.
"Thurgood Marshall was a man who took his life in his hands every time he came to a town to bring justice," Hudlin said in an announcement. "Marshall was a cowboy who used his law books as guns. He was the smartest guy in the room of any room he was in. But he wasn’t a punk and didn’t hesitate to throw a punch if the occasion called for it." The movie doesn't have an official release date yet. Regardless, it's definitely a movie to look forward to.
