Telling the real-life story of Thurgood Marshall, the aptly-titled upcoming film Marshall will see Chadwick Boseman step into the titular role, delving particularly into the famed justice-seeker’s career in 1940, long before he sat on the US Supreme Court. Directed by Reginald Hudlin, the movie’s set for release a little later this month and today (October 4), a new trailer dropped for the flick. Check it out below:
Young and unafraid to stand up for what he thinks is right, Thurgood Marshall is in 1940 an attorney for the NAACP. In these early days, he quickly comes up against what would be one of his biggest challenges when a black chauffeur (Joseph Spell, played by Sterling K. Brown) is accused by his white employer Eleanor Strubing (Kate Hudson) of sexual assault and attempted murder.
Unfamiliar with the wealthy white world of Connecticut, Marshall quickly comes to realise that racism is right around every corner, and whilst he fights for his client Joseph Spell, he must deal with the judgment of a public that call for Spell’s conviction, and Judge Colin Foster (James Cromwell) who lets him attend the trial, but never to speak.
Samuel Friedman (Josh Gad) is a man who has no interest in the case, but is forced to speak for the defence, leaving local prosecutor Lorin Willis (Dan Stevens) believing he has an easy victory.
Fear and prejudice fills Connecticut, with Marshall and Friedman struggling against one another whilst working on the case, but when they unravel the twisted story they come to realise that there are some very shocking facts to uncover and bring to light.
Though it has been largely forgotten by history, The State of Connecticut v. Joseph Spell is a trial that helped build the foundations of the Civil Rights Movement whilst informing the legal doctrine of a man who would go on to become one of the country’s most brilliant jurists.
Marshall hits UK cinemas on October 20.