Chadwick Boseman to Play Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall; Reginald Hudlin to Direct Biopic

Chadwick Boseman is set to play Thurgood Marshall, the iconic lawyer and Supreme Court justice. Reginald Hudlin is at the helm as director and principal photography is already underway in Buffalo, New York. Open Road Films acquired the U.S. rights to Marshall, the screenplay from trial lawyer Michael Koskoff and his son Jacob. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has all international distribution rights.

According to Deadline, the film centers on a true incident in the life of Marshall, when he was a young lawyer and long before his appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1941, a nearly bankrupt NAACP sent him 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 (Gad), 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 that helped set the groundwork for the civil rights movement to come.

Joining Boseman and Josh Gad in the cast are Kate Hudson, Dan Stevens, James Cromwell, Sterling K. Brown and Keesha Sharp. Paula Wagner is producing via her Chestnut Ridge Productions banner with Jonathan Sanger along with Hudlin.

This will be Boseman's third time playing a historical figure in a major motion picture. In 2013, he played baseball great Jackie Robinson in 42. A year later he was James Brown in GET ON UP.

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