Interview with the Cast and Filmmakers of On The Basis of Sex

 

 

A few weeks back I had a chance to preview ON THE BASIS OF SEX and interview some of the cast and screenwriter Daniel Stiepleman, who happens to be Ruth Ginsburg nephew.  The movie focuses on Ginsberg’s early years at Harvard, she was in one of the first classes that allowed women, and went on to try the Moritz case in order to set a precedent for discrimination on the basis of sex.  It was ironic that the case was based on a man who was denied a tax write-off as a caretaker because the law at that time assumed only women could be caretakers.  With this case, Ruth Ginsberg was able to help change laws and history.

 

A really powerful movie that I want to take my daughter to see because many rights we hold today are because of Ruth Ginsberg and her supporters.  You can read our review here.

I think we all wanted to do this film because it’s so important telling this story — telling this story about how, how first the… how difficult… it was for Ruth Bader Ginsburg, how she was fighting on every single front, not only because of her gender — because of her faith, because of where she was from. ~ Felicity Jones

 

PRESS:  Hi, I’m Ella Ladd KIDS FIRST! Film Critics and today my question is for you, Mr. Stiepleman.  

DANIEL STIEPLEMAN:  Mr. Stiepleman.

PRESS:  Ruth Bader Ginsburg, being your aunt, that’s obviously a very unique situation, so my question is… how did your relationship with her affect the movie and how it was written?

DANIEL STIEPLEMAN:  Ah, that’s a great question. For some people Ruth is like a really divisive character, which is kind of hard to remember.  And for some people she is this super hero. And so for me, I just wanted her to be Aunt Ruth. And so for me, I think, I don’t think another writer would have been at home as much, with the family — that I… for me, what was intriguing was how did, how did you and Uncle Martin go from being, I mean, they’re my age in the movie, to becoming who you are?  And when I first heard the story, which was at Uncle Martin’s funeral, someone gave a eulogy in which he mentioned briefly, the only case Ruth and Marty ever argued together. And I was pretty newly married. And my wife and I really looked to Ruth and Marty as our role models. Like this is what a marriage is supposed to look like. And how do we create that?  And how did you do that?

And so for me, it was knowing, knowing who they were together… became sort of the heart of how do I, how do I tell the story?  Because I… recognizing that I was sort of in this privileged position where I had them as role models and it helped my marriage and it helped my career and it helped me be a better man and a better father and… and realizing that that was something I could share with other people — the joy that does — and she’s my aunt, but she’s 50 years older than I am, and so it’s not like we were best buddies hanging out all the time.  You know, she was like, when I was a kid, she was my aunt who every year at Thanksgiving would come with Hanukkah gifts for the kids and every year from the ages of five to 12 she brought me a copy of the U.S. Constitution — [LAUGHTER] just like every little boy dreams of. [LAUGHTER]

Now I’m older and I recognize, I’m like, oh, she has a discount at the Supreme Court gift shop. [LAUGHTER] But — I… and so for me, part of the joy of this project was getting to know her — and like in a really intimate, detailed way and I probably I never would have otherwise, so it’s nice that we now have a very close relationship, which I’m so grateful for.  I only wish I thought of it before Uncle Martin died.

 

PRESS:  Hi, I’m Hail, I’m from Israel.

FELICITY JONES:  Hello.

PRESS:  And my question is for Felicity.  Follow up on another question — where did you meet with her and has she seen the film?  And what was her reaction when you told her that, when she was approached about this project?

FELICITY JONES:  Ah, yes, we all, we did, we did meet Justice Ginsburg.  We were all very nervous before we went in. And then when we were shown into her office, she couldn’t take her eyes off Armie Hammer. [LAUGHTER]

PRESS:  We can’t either. [LAUGHTER]

FELICITY JONES:  [SOUNDS LIKE] Odd, it’s odd. [LAUGHTER]

MALE SPEAKER:  One more Mimosa for [OVERLAPPING] [LAUGHTER] —

FELICITY JONES:  And so… I mean… I could just see, I could see obviously that she — the love that she had for Marty.  [LAUGHS] Obviously being channeled through Armie. [LAUGHTER] In that moment. But we spent time — we spent a few days in Washington and got to, just got to know each other… on a personal level.  I mean, Ruth had been involved from the very beginning and obviously like a good lawyer, she’d been meticulous about all the drafts of the script and she’d read every single one. She had approved all the casting.  She was very much… we had her blessing going into the film, which I feel is the only way that you’d want to make something like this, such an intimate [OVERLAPPING] portrait.

PRESS:  Has she seen it?  And what was her reaction?

FELICITY JONES:  I hear that she’s telling her friends to go and see it. [OVERLAPPING] Which is great.

DANIEL STIEPLEMAN:   Yeah, she — she is — I’m going to steal Felicity’s spotlight, which is not a thing I’m supposed to do probably.

FELICITY JONES:  No.

DANIEL STIEPLEMAN:  But she… [LAUGHS] yeah, she’s going to kill me later. [LAUGHTER] Um, she loved the film.  So we screened it for her, Mimi and I and Robert Cort and Jonathan King, our producers and the editor, we brought it to D.C. and we screened for her.  And it was sort of a terrifying thing, as you can imagine and then the… the movie ends and she stood up and stormed out of the theater as soon as the movie ended and we were all like, [GASP] what happened?  Then everyone looked at me, because I’m supposed to find out. [LAUGHTER] And then so… I went up to Jane Ginsburg who was there and I said, you know, “Is she okay? Is everything all right?” and Jane looked at me and she said, “Yeah, she had to go to the bathroom,” [LAUGHTER] and then she came back, [LAUGHS] which is not nice; she could have applauded or something first.  And then she came back and she just loved the film and she loved —

She loved Armie and Felicity’s portrayal, she said, and I quote “I’m just so glad it’s Felicity,” she said… see? [LAUGHTER] And she loved… she appreciated how much work went into getting the… the look and the feel of their, like you know, that someone went and found the blueprints of the apartment they lived in, in the ’60s and recreated it onscreen.  You know — [OVERLAPPING] the amount of detail that went into recreating their lives — she was really appreciative of.  And then her big remark when she said, “I’m just so glad it’s joyous,” I mean she said, “That’s what the ’70s was like for me, like as a feminist was, you know, we weren’t angry all the time; we weren’t depressed.  We felt like the world was changing for the better and we were at the forefront of that change. It was a really optimistic time,” and she felt like Mimi had captured that onscreen and that was great.

 

 

 

Out in theaters January 11th.  This is one movie you don’t want to miss!  So powerful and quite uplifting.  I love seeing stories about strong women who have helped change history.

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Story: The film tells an inspiring and spirited true story that follows young lawyer Ruth Bader Ginsburg as she teams with her husband Marty to bring a groundbreaking case before the U.S. Court of Appeals and overturn a century of gender discrimination.

Director: Mimi Leder (“Deep Impact,” “The Leftovers”)

Writer: Daniel Stiepleman

Producer: Robert Cort, Jonathan King

Cast: Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux, Kathy Bates, Sam Waterston, Jack Reynor, and Cailee Spaeny

Note: We were hosted by Focus Features but all opinions are our own.

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