Fresh off 'Star Wars,' Felicity Jones talks about playing another pop culture icon: Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Felicity Jones is an Oscar-nominated actress (The Theory of Everything) who’s worked opposite Tom Hanks (Inferno) and headlined a Star Wars movie (Rogue One). But the woman she’ll play in her next movie, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the biopic On the Basis of Sex, had a question for the 34-year-old from Birmingham, England.
“When I first met Ruth, she said ‘You speak the queen’s English and I’m a girl from Brooklyn. How is that going to work?'” Jones told Yahoo Entertainment at CinemaCon (watch above), noting the outerborough New York accent was her biggest challenge. “I was like, ‘You have the set the gauntlet. You have rolled that out.’ So I just went for it.”
Ginsburg clearly approved of Jones’s casting. “We went Washington [D.C.] before we started shooting and hung out and went out for dinner,” Jones said. “She really welcomed us into her home. We were going around taking pictures of everything. She was totally on board from the very beginning.”
And Jones, who earned an Academy Award for playing Stephen Hawking’s ex-wife Jane in 2014’s Theory of Everything, relished in the chance to play the groundbreaking lawyer-turned-judge.
“Ruth was an absolute fighter from the very beginning,” Jones said. “We see someone who had so many setups and disappointments, but she kept going, she kept fighting, and is now a justice on the Supreme Court, so what an incredible story.”
And speaking of fighters, yes, Jones sees parallels between Ginsburg and the most famous hero she’s played to date, Star Wars revolutionary Jyn Erso. “[They have] absolute determination, both of them,” Jones said. “Never ever giving up. And ultimately achieving what they want.”
On the Basis of Sex opens Nov. 9.
Watch Matthew McConaughey explain how his Oscar win gave him a new confidence:
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