"Thurgood Marshall is a true hero, whose heroism is based on his courage; on his intellect; on his wit."
Michael Koskoff
Back in the 1940s, the NAACP sent a young black lawyer named Thurgood Marshall to Bridgeport, Connecticut to defend a black chauffeur against his wealthy employer in a sensational sexual assault trial that grabbed newspaper headlines.
That story is the basis of a new film called "Marshall," which is just beginning production in Hollywood.
I spoke about the case and the making of the film with its co-screenwriter, Connecticut trial attorney Michael Koskoff.
Michael Koskoff: It involved a Greenwich woman, who was a socialite, a young, attractive woman, who was found wandering near the Kensico Reservoir at five or six in the morning on December 11, in 1940. She told a weird story of having been the subject of multiple rapes by her black chauffeur. And the police, of course, arrested him.
The man’s name was Joseph Spell. Immediately, New York papers were all over it. The Daily News, there was headlines in all of the papers. Sharing headlines, I may add, with the war that was going on in Europe. And the NAACP became very concerned about it.
So they went to Bridgeport, Connecticut to find a lawyer, and they couldn’t find anyone to take the case, except for a young lawyer named Sam Friedman. He was just starting out, and struggling. And they convinced Sam to take the case. But they said: in order to assist you, we’re going to send up our new chief legal counsel, and that was Thurgood Marshall.
And together, Marshall and Freedman defended this Joseph Spell. It was a cause-celebre. I analogize it to the O.J. Simpson trial of its time. It was even termed the sex trial of the century. And I don’t want to discuss what happened, because there are a huge a number of twists and turns in the plot. It’s a courtroom thriller.
WNPR's Diane Orson: You are an attorney, and during oral arguments in court, you have to tell a good story. I’m wondering how your career as a lawyer, and work as a writer, has intersected with this new role as a screenwriter?
It has intersected intimately. And I should add that ultimately, my son, who is a screenwriter in Hollywood, joined me on this project, because I felt that it sort of got beyond me. But I’ve been involved in civil rights cases starting with the Black Panthers in 1970, in New Haven: the BobbySealeTrial.
After that, I was involved in a lot of cases involving employment discrimination in the police and fire services in Bridgeport and New Haven. I know what happens in a courtroom. I know the dynamics of the courtroom. I know the dynamics of the trial. I find that most movies' and TV's depictions of a trial are very fake. Not only are they fake -- they’re not half as dramatic as real trials are.
So, this is coming at an interesting time, in terms of African American actors, directors, and screen writers in Hollywood. Given the recent announcement of Oscar nominees, I’m wondering, as you look at this film being made against that backdrop, where do you think things are going?
I think that this film, and films like "12 Years a Slave," are signs that things are actually beginning to break. It’s an early sign, to be sure. But it’s been too long in movies that black people are always depicted as either drug addicts or victims.
One of the things about Thurgood Marshall that is so spectacular is that he is not a victim. He is a hero -- a true hero, whose heroism is based on his courage; on his intellect; on his wit; on his humor -- all of these characteristics that you very seldom see in heroes in black films. Our director, Reggie Hudlin, who is African American, said, “I don’t want to show another black person as a victim. I want to show them as a hero, and Thurgood Marshall is the perfect person to do that.”
Michael Koskoff is a trial lawyer from Connecticut and co-screenwriter of the forthcoming film "Marshall," to be directed by Reginald Hudlin. Actor Chadwick Boseman has been cast as Thurgood Marshall. Josh Gad will play lawyer Sam Friedman.
