The studio has secured the rights to make a movie which centers on Jim Obergefell, a plaintiff, who struggled to bring marriage equality to the United States.
- July 8, 2015
AceShowbiz -
20th Century Fox is developing a movie about a Supreme Court case that effectively legalized same-sex marriage last June. The movie will center on Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the landmark case of Obergefell v. Hodges, who struggled to bring marriage equality to the United States.
Fox has bought the life rights of Obergefell as well as his lawyer, Al Gerhardstein. Additionally, it has acquired the rights to a still-unwritten book by Obergefell and Debbie Cenziper, a journalist at The Washington Post. Sources said that the book would be titled "21 Years to Midnight".
Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen ("Twilight", "The Fault in Our Stars") will produce the movie. The project will be handled by Fox 2000, a division known for literary adaptations like "Life of Pi" and "The Devil Wears Prada". "It's a transcendent love story about someone who goes to such a length for love that he ends up changing the world," Godfrey said of the movie.
Obergefell married his longtime partner John Arthur in 2013 in Maryland just three months before Arthur died. Since Ohio refused to list Obergefell as Arthur's surviving spouse on Arthur's death certificates, Obergefell took his case to court.
In a recent interview with Variety, Obergefell recounted how he and his partner finally filed suit against the state of Ohio. "We decided to stand up for our marriage and to no longer accept being treated as second-class citizens. We filed suit against the state of Ohio to demand recognition of our lawful, out-of-state marriage on John's impending death certificate," he said.
He also explained how the said case finally found its way to the Supreme Court, "The obvious result of that decision is my trip to the United States Supreme Court as the named plaintiff in Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark case about the right to marry throughout our country."
