Hot on the heels of the Supreme Court’s landmark June 26th decision to overturn all state laws, constitutional provisions, and voter initiatives defining marriage as between one man and one woman, Hollywood has staked its claim to a piece of the story.
Fox 2000 has reportedly acquired life rights of Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff who sued his home state of Ohio to recognize his same-sex marriage which was performed in Maryland. The case, which ultimately reached the Supreme Court, forced jurisdictions nationwide to fully recognize, perform, and legalize same-sex marriages.
Fox has also acquired the life rights of Obergefell’s attorney, Al Gerhardstein, as well as the film rights to a book to be penned by Obergefell and journalist Debbie Cenziper, tentatively titled 21 Years to Midnight. The book is currently being shopped to publishers, with a deal expected this week.
Though cast, release date, and director have yet to be announced, Wyck Godfrey (The Fault in Our Stars) and Marty Bowen are reportedly slated to produce the film.
Despite the fact that Fox’s movie divisions are technically separate entities from parent News Corporation’s Fox News brand, it is curious that the same company that often offered arguments for laws protecting the traditional definition of marriage and railed against activist judges in lower court decisions and in 2013’s United States v. Windsor Supreme Court case that was the catalyst for lower courts overturning traditional marriage laws in more than 20 states should be the ones to launch this movie.
Yet, as the media sensation surrounding the trial and long battle between gay activists and traditional marriage activists attests, it would seem that such a project would draw a large, financially lucrative audience. But at what real cost?
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