Chadwick Boseman Cast As Thurgood Marshall In Yet Another Iconic Biopic

Actor Chadwick Boseman has had a pretty successful career on the big screen so far, playing iconic African-American roles in biopics. His breakout role was in the biopic 42, where Boseman portrayed legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson. Then, he channelled the “Godfather of Soul” James Brown in 2014’s Get On Up, both films earning favorable reviews. In late 2014, Marvel Studios announced that Boseman would be joining their Marvel Cinematic Universe and portraying the comic book character T’Challa, a.k.a. Black Panther, with his solo movie set to be released in 2018. Now, Deadline reports that Chadwick Boseman has just signed on to play Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in the upcoming biopic Marshall.

At the Get On Up Premiere #getonup Can’t wait for you guys to check it out on August 1st!

A photo posted by Chadwick Boseman (@chadwickboseman) on Jul 22, 2014 at 6:04pm PDT

The film will center around one of Marshall’s cases early on in his career and the description of the movie is as follows.

“As the nation teeters on the brink of WWII, a nearly bankrupt NAACP sends Marshall to conservative Connecticut to defend a black chauffeur against his wealthy socialite employer in a sexual assault and attempted murder trial that quickly became tabloid fodder. In need of a high profile victory but muzzled by a segregationist court, Marshall is partnered with Samuel Friedman, a young Jewish lawyer who has never tried a case. Marshall and Friedman struggle against a hostile storm of fear and prejudice, driven to discover the truth in the sensationalized trial which helped set the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement to come.”

Reginald Hudlin, one of the producers of Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, is signed on to direct Chadwick Boseman in the project. Hudlin is going to be the recipient of the African American Film Critics Association’s inaugural “Salute to Excellence Award” during their 7th AAFCA Awards ceremony, which will take place on Wednesday, February 10 in Hollywood. In regards to the Thurgood Marshall biopic, Hudlin made the following statement in the announcement.

“Thurgood Marshall was a man who took his life in his hands every time he came to a town to bring justice. Marshall was a cowboy who used his law books as guns. He was the smartest guy in the room of any room he was in. But he wasn’t a punk and didn’t hesitate to throw a punch if the occasion called for it.”

Chadwick Boseman’s next on-screen appearance will be in Alex Proyas’ Gods of Egypt, in theaters February 26. The film’s trailer received harsh criticism in regards to its lack of diversity, and Boseman provided a very blunt response to the criticism in an interview with GQ.

“When I originally was approached with the script, I thought this critique might come up, I really did,” said Boseman. “And I’m thankful that it did, because actually, I agree with it. That’s why I wanted to do it, so you would see someone of African descent playing Thoth, the father of mathematics, astronomy, the god of wisdom.”

In May of 2015, Chadwick Boseman will be making is on-screen debut as the character of Black Panther in Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War. His character has been described as quite mysterious and enigmatic. “He’s definitely not the life of the party in this instance,” says Boseman.

[Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images]