Earlier this week, The Hollywood Reporter revealed in an exclusive story that a feature-film version of the backstory of the Supreme Court’s landmark “Roe v. Wade” abortion-rights decision is filming in New Orleans.
The co-director is Nick Loeb — a graduate of New Orleans’ Tulane University — who’s also producing and co-writing with business partner Cathy Allyn.
He gained notoriety as the former boyfriend of “Modern Family” star Sofia Vergara. After their breakup, he waged a protracted court battle over his and Vegara’s frozen embryos, which they had planned to bring to term using a surrogate. Vergara wanted the embryos (which Loeb named Emma and Isabella) to remain frozen indefinitely. Loeb wanted control over them, so he pursued several unsuccessful custody lawsuits.
So, that’s a mess.
But, the process seems to have galvanized Loeb, who’s now taking on the 1973 decision, handed down in favor of the right to an abortion of plaintiff Jane Roe, a k a Norma McCorvey (who never had an abortion, and later became Catholic and a pro-life activist).
From The Hollywood Reporter:
“But even without that news [about the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy], it’s one of the most controversial political decisions in history. It divides us and makes us uncomfortable,” says Loeb, adding that his own battle with Vergara over access to embryos they created has informed the film. “I have my own pro-life issue going on with my fight over embryos, but no one has really told the whole truth about Roe v. Wade in a film. When I delved into this, I discovered conspiracy theories, fake news, made-up statistics and a whole lot of people involved who switched their positions from pro-choice to pro-life, including Norma.”
Apparently the shoot has been troubled, with crew and locations bailing, reportedly because of the content. It’s hard to tell right now what that content is, since Loeb told The Hollywood Reporter that the film will be PG-rated, but The Daily Beast reports that the film includes “several graphic scenes depicting aborted fetuses, according to several crew members who spoke to The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals.”
But, writes The Reporter:
At Tulane, where Loeb is an alum, the film shot one day, but after the school newspaper reported on the nature of the project, producers were denied a second day of shooting, according to Loeb. (Both Tulane and LSU say logistics were the problem, not the content of the movie.)
Among those reported to be in the film, which plans to conclude filming next week, is former Fox News commentator and congressional candidate Stacey Dash (“Clueless”) as Mildred Jefferson, the first African-American to graduate Harvard Medical School, and a former president of National Right to Life. Playing Supreme Court justices are Jon Voight, Robert Davi, Corbin Bernsen, John Schneider, William Forsythe, Wade Williams and Richard Portnow.
The Hollywood Reporter also lists Justine Wachsberger and Greer Grammer (Kelsey Grammer’s daughter) as McCorvey’s attorneys; and Lucy Davenport as author Betty Friedan (“Feminine Mystique”).
The executive producer is pro-life activist and former Georgia state representative Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King. She also has a cameo in the movie (and appears in the trailer below).
While Loeb hints at other cameos in the Reporter story, the Daily Beast claims to know who they are. It says that conservative commentator Tomi Lahren portrays “Supreme Court Justice Blackmun’s daughter, Sally, a Planned Parenthood volunteer who challenges her father (Blackmun penned the court’s opinion on Roe v. Wade); and [conservative provocateur Milo] Yiannopoulos as Dr. David Sopher, a British abortion doctor who invented the Sopher ovum forceps and ‘who’s performing abortions and feels they don’t matter,’ according to a crew member.”
The Daily Beast also reports that Joey Lawrence plays Fordham University professor Robert Byrn, who opposed abortion; Ellery Sprayberry plays McCorvey; and Loeb plays NARAL founder and former abortion practictioner Dr. Bernard Nathanson. It also says that Stephen Baldwin and Kevin Sorbo were initially cast but later dropped out.
Since a lot of this news is from cast members and not the production team, it’s hard to know how much is true, or how many, if any, of these reported performers may make it to the final cut of the film.
So, unlike the fact-inspired abortion drama “Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer,” based on grand-jury testimony, which hits theaters this fall, “Roe v. Wade” is a big question mark. We’ll have to wait and see what take it has on the case, and who actually winds up in it.
Image: Wikimedia Commons; courtesy Gage Skidmore (Davi).
Don’t miss a thing: head over to my other home, as Social Media Manager at Family Theater Productions; and check out FTP’s Faith & Family Media Blog, and our YouTube Channel.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In