NEWS

Anyone who’s seen the documentary The Case Against 8 will know that the story of the defeat of California’s Proposition 8 played out like a Hollywood movie. However Tinsel Town has held off but now it seems they’re interested in the more recent US Supreme Court decision that extended marriage equality right across the States.

The New York Times reports that Fox 2000 is developing a movie about the lead plaintiff in the case, Jim Obergefell, and has also purchased the rights to the life of his lawyer, Al Gerhardstein.

As NYT notes, ‘Mr. Obergefell, an Ohio real estate agent, married his longtime partner, John Arthur, in 2013 in Maryland. When Mr. Arthur died, Ohio refused to list Mr. Obergefell as his spouse on the death certificate, so Mr. Obergefell sued.’

The fight went through the legal system until it finally ended up before the Supreme Court, who in June ruled in favour of Obergefell. The justices’ decision that marriage equailty was guaranteed under the US Constitution ensured that same sex marriage had to be rolled out across the nation. However, while most have concentrated on the result, it shouldn’t be forgotten that it was a story of love that underpinned the historic decision.

Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen, who produced the Twilight movies, are behind the movie, which will be largely based around a book proposal by Obergefell and journalist Debbie Cenziper, called 21 Years to Midnight.

Don’t expect to see it all that soon, as it’s very early days and it’s not expected to be in cinemas for at least two years.