--- description: "It held up the project for awhile," the Supreme Court Justice said title: Natalie Portman Insisted a Woman Direct the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Biopic image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d65a84d6a63d35c/6987ef10e53aba9e744dbc16/portman-ginsberg.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Natalie Portman Insisted on Female Director for Ruth Bader Ginsburg Biopic  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 15, 2015 7:21 PM CUT  Natalie Portman, Ruth Bader Ginsberg Natalie Portman, Ruth Bader GinsbergBreuel-Bild—ABB/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images, Evan Vucci—AP  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 15, 2015 7:21 PM CUT Natalie Portman had one demand when she signed on to play Supreme Court Justice ([and TIME 100 cover star](http://time.com/3823889/ruth-bader-ginsburg-2015-time-100/ "undefined")) Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the upcoming film _On the Basis of Sex_: [let a woman direct it](http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ruth-bader-ginsburg-the-natalie-portman-movie-about-her "undefined"). “Natalie Portman came to talk to me about this, and we had a very good conversation,” Ginsburg said in a Saturday interview at the American Constitution Society convention, [MSNBC reports](http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ruth-bader-ginsburg-the-natalie-portman-movie-about-her "undefined"). “And one thing, interesting, that she insisted on, it held up the project for awhile. She said, ‘I want the director to be a woman. There are not enough women in this industry. There are many talented out there.’ And now they do have a woman director.” Deadline reported in May that Marielle Heller (_The Diary of a Teenage Girl_) [was in negotiations](http://deadline.com/2015/05/natalie-portman-supreme-court-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-marielle-heller-focus-cannes-1201422929/ "undefined") to direct the project. Female directors are so poorly represented in Hollywood—last year, they directed only 7 percent of the top 250 grossing films—that the ACLU recently asked the federal government [to investigate](http://time.com/3855507/aclu-hollywood-sexism-gender-bias/ "undefined") what it alleges are systematic bias and discriminatory hiring practices. The few women that do get to step into the director’s chair sometimes worry the success of their movies will determine the number of opportunities available to their peers. As _Pitch Perfect 2_ director Elizabeth Banks [told TIME earlier this year](http://time.com/3858530/elizabeth-banks-female-directors-pitch-perfect-2/ "undefined"): --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3921744/natalie-portman-ruth-bader-ginsburg-female-director/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3921744/natalie-portman-ruth-bader-ginsburg-female-director/"},"headline":"Natalie Portman Insisted on Female Director for Ruth Bader Ginsburg Biopic","datePublished":"2015-06-15T19:21:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:13:33.225Z","description":"\"It held up the project for awhile,\" the Supreme Court Justice said","url":"https://time.com/3921744/natalie-portman-ruth-bader-ginsburg-female-director/","keywords":["movies","Ruth Bader Ginsburg","natalie portman"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d65a84d6a63d35c/6987ef10e53aba9e744dbc16/portman-ginsberg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d65a84d6a63d35c/6987ef10e53aba9e744dbc16/portman-ginsberg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"5th Annual Gala held at Wallis Annenberg","caption":"5th Annual Gala held at Wallis Annenberg","creditText":"Breuel-Bild—ABB/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images, Evan Vucci—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3921744/natalie-portman-ruth-bader-ginsburg-female-director/","name":"Natalie Portman Insisted on Female Director for Ruth Bader Ginsburg Biopic"}}]}] ```