If Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, ever decides to retire from the Supreme Court, she’s got a second life waiting for her in Hollywood.
In January, Ginsburg stole the spotlight at Sundance when she popped in for the premiere of RBG, the documentary about her storied legal career (out May 4 via Magnolia). And now THR has learned that the pint-sized justice recently shot a cameo for On the Basis of Sex, the Mimi Leder movie in which Felicity Jones portrays Ginsburg as a crusading young attorney in the 1970s. (The script was written by the Ginsburgs’ nephew Daniel Stiepleman.)
According to Stephen Root, who portrays one of Ginsburg’s Harvard professors (Armie Hammer plays her husband, Marty), the 5-foot-1 Ginsburg arrived on the set to shoot a short sequence on some courthouse steps.
“She had the two biggest bodyguards I have ever seen,” Root revealed at the L.A. premiere of Barry, the new hitman turned actor HBO series in which he co-stars. “They were like 6-foot-8, and there she was in between them.”
Meanwhile, Root praised Jones’ remarkable physical transformation into Ginsburg: “Felicity is a beautiful English actress, but then she gets on set and shrinks into this hard little nut. She’s so brilliant.”
This story first appeared in the April 12 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
