Julia Roberts To Bring Brockovich Justice Back To Silver Screen: ‘ADX’ To Tap Into World’s Avery-Fuelled Prisoner Rights Preoccupation

Julia Roberts is set to star in and produce the upcoming HBO film ADX, which will re-create the true story of an attorney fighting to improve conditions for inmates in America’s highest-security prison.

Roberts’ character will be based on real-life lawyer Deborah Golden, whose reception of a letter from an inmate seeking legal representation to review his hearing, sentencing, and transfer to ADX instigated what would become the largest suit ever brought against the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Tracking Board outlines the premise of Roberts’ upcoming co-production, therein piquing the interest of Julia’s many followers.

“Julia Roberts is set to star in and produce ADX, a drama about the real life harrowing and potentially groundbreaking lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Prisons over the treatment of inmates at the infamous ADX supermax facility in the Rocky Mountains,” states the film description.

Julia has partnered with HBO for the project, which arose from the watershed exposé by Mark Binelli, which was published in the New York Times last year. The article, “Inside America’s Toughest Federal Prison,” uncovered shocking administrative and managerial transgressions from the law.

{Exclusive} #JuliaRoberts set to star in & produce prison drama “ADX” for @HBO Films https://t.co/lapXUbn2E7 pic.twitter.com/R83Og8H1rj

— Tracking Board (@MyTrackingBoard) January 28, 2016

Fans and critics believe that Roberts’ character — a crusader for the rights of persons who have been marginalized, silenced, or mistreated by unethically operated bureaucracy — will correlate strongly with Julia’s seminal performance as Erin Brockovich in 2000. Julia Roberts is hardly a surprising choice for the starring role: Roberts won an Oscar for Best Actress as Brockovich, having captured the real-life woman’s fearless, confrontational demeanor and indefatigable pursuit of justice for the wronged. The thematic references to Julia’s award-winning role as Brockovich are predicted to arise from her new character’s litigation against potentially corrupt practices of the Bureau of Prisons; the inmate from whom Golden received the letter, for example, had a history of severe mental illness, a factor which should, legally, have prevented him from being transferred to ADX.

Roberts’ movie will explore the alleged malpractice of The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility, which has been touted “a clean version of hell.”

Julia’s performance as Erin is not about prison, but Roberts has tapped into one of the strongest — and most controversial — areas of public interest: the legal system to which the public entrusts the running of society, and its treatment of those whose lives are given over to it. The Inquisitr yesterday reported on The Avery Effect: the current of impassioned interest in the American justice system and alleged miscarriages of justice for which it is responsible. Julia Roberts is not the first to identify the trend; Netflix struck gold with increasingly popular prison drama Orange Is The New Black, and Roberts will compete for viewership with the upcoming FX miniseries The People Vs. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, which will interrogate the events surrounding the brutal murder of Nicole Simpson.

Julia Roberts’ most recent high-profile appearance was on Jimmy Kimmel Live, about which the actress proudly posted an Instagram.

As Julia finishes production under her Red Om Films label for HBO — through which Roberts has produced other films — fans look to more imminent releases in which Julia stars. Roberts has been busy — too busy, perhaps, to answer the call from Chandler of Friends, whom Julia’s character Susie asked to call her in 20 years, 20 years ago to this day, as pointed out by Metro UK. Jack O’Connell, George Clooney, and Julia Roberts make up the cast of soon-to-release Monster Money.

[Image credits: Universal Film Still/Getty Images; OFFFSET/Shutterstock]