How Felicity Jones Transformed Herself Into Ruth Bader Ginsburg for ‘On the Basis of Sex’

Variety

By Brent Lang and Dave McNary

April 25, 2018

Photo Credit: Matt Baron/REX/Shutterstock

Felicity Jones refused to break character while portraying Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in “On the Basis of Sex.”

“I was a crazy person,” Jones said. In order to perfect Ginsburg’s distinctive Brooklyn-inflected accent, Jones, the English star behind “Theory of Everything” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” only spoke in the jurist’s voice while on the set.

“I was full Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” Jones said while presenting footage of the film at Focus Features CinemaCon presentation on Wednesday at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

“On the Basis of Sex” deals with on of Ginsburg’s earliest cases, Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld. It used the example of a widower denied his wife’s survivor benefits under Social Security to illustrate gender disparities under the law. The film went into the production in the midst of a sexual harassment crisis in Hollywood, as industry figures such as Harvey Weinstein, Dustin Hoffman, and Kevin Spacey were all accused of abuse and misconduct. Read more.