Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 31 OcTOber 2017
Biopic ‘Marshall’ scores with

those who knew late justice

By JESSICA GRESKO der his belt and more than show was that the night
Associated Press a decade before his vic- of the verdict, her parents
WASHINGTON (AP) — Su- tory in the landmark Brown had left town because of
preme Court Justice Thur- v. Board of Education case death threats.
good Marshall’s widow, that outlawed segregation But more is accurate than
Cecilia, has seen two in public schools. Koskoff not in the film, including
showings of the new movie said there is “nothing par- even details about minor
“Marshall” about her late ticularly significant” about characters. “Some of the
Lauren Friedman, daughter of lawyer Samuel Friedman, poses husband. She liked it, but the case depicted in the things you would think are
with photos of her father, and a telegram from Thurgood had one observation about movie, but it is represen- not true were true,” Koskoff
Marshall, in her New York apartment, Monday, Oct. 23, 2017. actor Chadwick Boseman, tative of the legal work said, referencing a point in
Associated Press who plays the civil rights Marshall was doing in the the movie where Friedman,
pioneer and legal giant. early 1940s on behalf of the in the courtroom, demon-
“He’s a very good-looking NAACP: traveling around strates being gagged.
man, but he’s not as hand- the United States to de- Details moviegoers learn
some as my husband was,” fend black men accused about Marshall’s life also
she told her son John after of crimes, and doing it at are correct, including the
seeing the film, he said. great personal risk. fact that his first wife, Vivian
The question of looks aside, Koskoff said he reviewed “Buster” Marshall, suffered
what moviegoers get in old newspaper articles , multiple miscarriages be-
“Marshall” is a film faith- investigators’ notes and fore her death from can-
ful to the facts and to the what remained of court cer in 1955. It wasn’t until
man, according to those files. He looked at letters his second marriage, to
who have studied the real- between Marshall and Cecilia Suyat, that he be-
life Connecticut rape case co-counsel Friedman and came a father. One of their
from 1941 and those who notes Marshall took during two boys, John Marshall,
knew Marshall. He died in jury selection. There was no reviewed multiple drafts
1993 at age 84. transcript of the court pro- of the movie’s script and
Michael Koskoff, a lawyer ceedings. As a result, much helped the scriptwriters
who wrote the screenplay of the courtroom dialogue capture his dad. John Mar-
with his son, says he began is made up, as is the nature shall said the film’s direc-
with the information he of the relationship between tor, Reginald Hudlin, called
had about the case, then the two lawyers. him half a dozen times ask-
filled in the gaps. The movie takes other fac- ing whether certain details
In early 1941, Marshall was tual liberties: were right, down to wheth-
in Bridgeport, Connecticut, —a court scene that opens er his father smoked. The
to represent Joseph Spell, a the movie happened after, filmmakers faithfully cap-
black chauffeur accused not before the Spell case. tured his father’s sense of
by his wealthy, white em- —in the movie, Spell’s so- humor, his confidence and
ployer of rape. Because cialite employer claims she his mastery of the law, John
Marshall was an out-of- was raped twice; accounts Marshall said.
state attorney, he enlisted from the time have her say- University of Maryland law
the help of a local lawyer, ing it was three times. professor Larry Gibson,
Sam Friedman, who was —Friedman was slen- a Marshall biographer,
white and had expertise in der and athletic, not the agreed that the movie’s
trying civil cases, not crimi- heavyset character played creators got how Marshall
nal ones. by Josh Gad. carried himself. “Life hung
The movie, which came out —Friedman’s daughter on him kind of loosely,” he
this month, shows a 32-year- Lauren, who was also in- said.
old Marshall, with one Su- volved in the movie, said Susan Low Bloch, a George-
preme Court argument un- one thing the film doesn’t town professor who clerked
for Marshall at the Supreme
Court, said the movie cap-
tured the personality, sense
of humor and thoroughness
of the Marshall she knew.
Moviegoers who linger in
the theater through the
credits will get to hear
Marshall himself in a bit of
old audio. He says in part:
“You know, there are so
many people, indeed my
own sons at times, look at
me with an expression on
their face that they don’t
believe what happened in
the past.”q