Exclusive: Jennifer Lawrence Is Playing Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Jennifer Lawrence will play a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg in an upcoming biopic.
Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence will portray the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in an upcoming biopic. According to our trusted and proven sources, the Red Sparrow star will be playing the legendary lawyer and jurist in her younger years and focus on her lifelong struggles for gender equality in both the legal profession and the world at large. Jennifer Lawrence will not be the first actress to portray Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but she is likely the most high-profile star to do so.
Jennifer Lawrence is primarily known for high-concept science fiction franchises like the Hunger Games and the X-Men, so portraying Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a bit of a swerve. This would not be the first time that Lawrence portrayed a real-life figure, as she previously portrayed entrepreneur Joy Mangano in the 2015 David O. Russell film Joy. However, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is an American cultural icon on an entirely different scale than Mangano, so this upcoming biopic will no doubt be held to a different level of scrutiny.
While Lawrence might be best known as Katniss Everdeen and Mystique, it is worth mentioning that she is also an Oscar winner, being awarded the Award for Best Actress for 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook (becoming the second youngest person to win the award). While the public reception of her films has certainly wavered over the years (the 2016 science fiction film Passengers, in which she co-starred with Chris Pratt, being a low point), Jennifer Lawrence can certainly be argued to have the chops to portray Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
On the other hand, it is difficult to argue that Jennifer Lawrence bears any resemblance to Ruth Bader Ginsburg at any age. While that certainly should not disqualify any actor for portraying a real-life individual (and also what make-up departments are for), Lawrence would certainly not be an obvious choice to play the Justice. It is also notable that while Jennifer Lawrence is not Jewish, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was one of only eight Jewish people to serve on the United States Supreme Court; the appropriateness of non-Jewish actors to portray Jewish individuals is an ongoing discussion in Hollywood and this will no doubt immediately become a notable topic.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was previously portrayed by Felicity Jones (best known for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) in 2018’s On the Basis of Sex, which was largely well-received by critics and currently holds 72 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. That movie was made prior to Ginsburg’s passing in 2020 and actually featured a cameo from the Justice, which Lawrence’s film will not have the advantage of. However, both films appear to be covering the same early time period of Ginsburg’s life, so it will be interesting to see the crossover there.
Currently, Lawrence is slated to appear in the upcoming sex comedy No Hard Feelings, playing a down-on-her-luck Uber driver who takes a Craiglist job to “date” a shy young man from his parents. After that, Jennifer Lawrence will no doubt find playing Ruth Bader Ginsburg easy.
