Many of us are looking forward to seeing Chadwick Bosman as Black Panther, but before that happens, he's playing a real-life superhero. Marshall tells a story about the early career of Thurgood Marshall, the man who would become the first African-American Justice of the Supreme Court and the man who successfully fought for desegregated schools. While the new movie will focus on a much younger man during a very different part of his career, the story looks to be no less impressive. Check out the first trailer.
While Thurgood Marshall's entire career is probably worthy of a movie, the film Marshall looks to focus only on a small part of it. While working for the NAACP Marshall is sent to defend a man named Joseph Spell, played by Sterling K. Brown, a black man accused of raping and attempting to kill a white woman. Marshall believes the man has only been accused because of his race. To help Marshall is Sam Friedman, played by Josh Gad. As one might expect from this kind of story in this time period, the odds are stacked against them.
While the subject matter of Marshall is incredibly heavy, the trailer shows us some tense scenes it's not entirely without lighter moments either. We see a sense of humor in Chadwick Boseman's portrayal of Thurgood Marshall. We also see Josh Gad in one of his most serious roles to date. While both may be playing somewhat against type, both look perfect in their respective roles.
The case that Marshall will follow is based on a real-life case that Marshall handled when he was a young lawyer for the NAACP. What may be the most interesting thing about this particular case is that it takes place in New England. While we might expect the stereotypes of racial bias in the 1940s to be centered in the American South, this case showed that racism was a national problem, not simply a regional one, which is part of the reason this case was so important.
Along with Chadwick Boseman and Josh Gad, Marshall stars Kate Hudson as Eleanor Strubing, the alleged victim in the case.
A biopic with a powerful story like this one, being released in October, basically screams that Marshall wants to put itself in the hunt for awards. Based on what we've seen here, it's certainly possible that the film will have a case. Clearly, it's too early to tell for certain whether the movie will actually be that good, but it's got some great actors capable of great performances, so we're hopeful the movie is worthy of its remarkable subject matter. Marshall will arrive in theaters October 13.
