Open Road Films has released the first trailer and eight new photos for the upcoming biopicMarshall, starringChadwick Boseman. While superhero fans will get to see this talented actor portray T’challa inBlack PantherandAvengers: Infinity Warnext year, this year they’ll get to see him play a real-life hero, attorney Thurgood Marshall. Before making history as the first African-American justice to sit on the Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall took on one of his most important cases ever in the early 1940s.
Long before he sat on the United States Supreme Court or claimed victory in Brown v. Board of Education, Thurgood Marshall (Chadwick Boseman) was a young rabble-rousing attorney for the NAACP. The new motion picture,Marshall, is the true story of his greatest challenge in those early days, a fight he fought alongside attorney Sam Friedman (Josh Gad), a young lawyer with no experience in criminal law: the case of black chauffeur Joseph Spell (Sterling K. Brown), accused by his white employer, Eleanor Strubing (Kate Hudson), of sexual assault and attempted murder.
The supporting cast includes Dan Stevens as Lorin Willis, who prosecuted the case against Joseph Spell, James Cromwell as the judge presiding over the case, Keesha Sharp as Thurgood Marshall’s wife, Buster, Rozonda Thomas as prominent African-American author Zora Neale Hurston andJussie Smolettas author, poet and activist Langston Hughes.Open Road Filmshas setMarshallfor release on October 13, which puts it up against Paramount Pictures’mother!, Universal Pictures’Happy Death Dayand STX Entertainment’sThe Foreigner. It will also debut betweenBlade Runner 2049andMy Little Ponyon October 6, and an October 20 weekend with six wide releases, Warner Bros.‘Geostorm, Sony’sGranite Mountain Hotshots, PureFlix’sSame Kind of Different As Me, Universal’sThe Snowman, Lionsgate’sTyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloweenand The Weinstein Compan’sWar With Grandpa.
Reginald Hudlin directsMarshall, his first feature directorial effort since 2002’sServing Sara, although he has been keeping busy in other areas, producingDjango UnchainedandThe Boondocks, while becoming a prolific TV director, helming episodes ofNew Girl,Modern Family,The Middleand more. It was also announced earlier this month that Reginald Hudlin will direct aShadowman moviefor Valiant Comics. The screenplay forMarshallis a unique collaboration between renowned trial lawyer, Michael Koskoff, and his son, screenwriter Jacob Koskoff (Macbeth).Marshallis being produced with the full support of the Thurgood Marshall and Samuel Friedman estates, including their children, John W. Marshall and Lauren Friedman.
Reginald Hudlin also produces alongside Paula Wagner and Jonathan Sanger, with Peter Luo and Belton Lee serving as executive producers. While he has gained a huge fan base for playingT’challa/Black Panther inCaptain America: Civil Warand the upcomingBlack Panther, Chadwick Boseman is also becoming quite adept at portraying historical figures.Marshallmarks the third biopic for the talented actor, following his breakout performance in42, as Jackie Robinson, the first big league baseball player to break the color barrier, and his 2014 biopicGet on Up, where he played the Godfather of Soul himself, James Brown. Take a look at the new trailer and photos forMarshallbelow.
