Today, "Marshall", a film about the first African American Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall, hits theaters nationwide.
In it, Chadwick Boseman, who captured the spirit of both baseball legend Jackie Robinson and soul icon James Brown, portrays the legal trailblazer himself. The film was directed by Reginald Hudlin, who shared in an interview with The Undefeated:
"I've had friends who admitted to me, ‘I went in going I don't know if this casting works.' And they also have admitted, within 20 seconds, that concern was gone, it had never occurred to them. Because Chadwick’s performance is the exact spirit of Thurgood Marshall."
According to the Undefeated, Hudlin said "that people who have clerked under Marshall, who knew him intimately, are more than satisfied. They’re like, 'Oh, my God, how did you capture all those little nuances of his personality? You guys nailed it.’ To have that affirmed by people who have firsthand knowledge is a huge relief."
Photo credit: Barry Wetcher /Open Road Films
Here's what to expect from the film. It's less of a biopic and more of an examination of one of the nation's greatest legal minds, exploring an important case that Marshall argued before becoming the first African American Supreme Court Justice. It was in 1940 when Marshall was the lead defense attorney for Joseph Spelling, a Black man falsely accused of raping a white woman by the name of Eleanor Strubing.
Photo credit: Barry Wetcher /Open Road Films
"If this was a cradle-to-grave story about Marshall, obviously we would have to deal with his complexion," Boseman told the Undefeated. "Right now, we’re dealing with one case. He's walking into this courtroom as a Black man. He’s not a Black man passing as a white man. He didn’t try to pass as a white man. He showed up as the Black attorney, right? He showed up as a Black man and got gagged for being Black..."
Sterling K. Brown stars as Joseph Spelling, Kate Hudson, Eleanor Strubing, and Josh Gad takes on the role of local insurance attorney, Sam Friedman.
Are you going to go see "Marshall" this weekend?