She’s an accomplished woman with an inspiring true story. She rose from the Bronx housing projects to an esteemed legal career, helped save baseball after the 1994 strike and now she’s on the verge of making history as President Obama’s choice for Supreme Court justice — the first Hispanic ever selected for the job, and only the third woman.
So it seems only natural that federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor might be the focus of a movie someday.
We’re not saying there’s necessarily a movie in the works. We’re just saying it’s easy to picture one happening. You can just see Jennifer Lopez and Rosie Perez — actresses and producers who share Sotomayor’s Puerto Rican heritage — jockeying for the rights to star in the judge’s life story the second Obama announced her name Tuesday morning.
But maybe there are some more intriguing choices among the obvious hypothetical front-runners:
Jennifer Lopez: Jenny From the Block comes from the same part of New York as Sotomayor, and she’s already played a real-life, high-profile figure in “Selena,” the film the made her a star. This take on Sotomayor’s life would likely feature La Lopez in plenty of wardrobe changes, aside from the obligatory black robe, and gratuitous cutaways to her flawless hair and makeup.
Rosie Perez: Close your eyes and imagine how she would say the following sentence in her distinctively heavy Brooklyn accent: “Thank you, Mr. President, for the most humbling honor of my life.” The intentions would be honorable, but unintentional hilarity factor could be high.
Penny Marshall: A Bronx native and lifelong Yankees fan like Sotomayor, she’s already made a baseball movie with the 1992 hit “A League of Their Own.” Here, Marshall could streamline the process by directing herself.
Madonna: She’s shown she can play a prominent Latina leader by taking on Eva Peron in “Evita.” Plus she can draw on her intimate relationship with Alex Rodriguez to inform the way she plays the Yankee-fan side of Sotomayor’s personality. And perhaps she’d add a song or two.
Roselyn Sanchez: If you wanted to sex it up — perhaps for the TV movie version — you could cast the gorgeous Puerto Rican pageant queen and star of TV’s “Without a Trace.” There’s no reason that dreary old judge’s robe couldn’t show a little more leg and a lot more cleavage.
Judge Judy: She clearly knows her way around the bench and she’s not exactly shy on camera. As an added bonus, she can keep budget costs by providing her own wardrobe.
Alyssa Milano: This version would focus on how Sotomayor might juggle the constantly evolving demands of managing a fantasy baseball team in between making important judicial decisions. For serious stat geeks only, it would probably air on the MLB Network.
Tyler Perry: He’s made his name by dressing in drag, donning the gray wig, glasses and floral housecoat to play his signature outspoken character. Now, he can turn the highest court in the land into his own slapstick playground with “Madea Goes to Court.”
Demi Lovato: The Disney star could play Sotomayor in the early years, with a special guest appearance from the Jonas Brothers, who show up to sing to her when she’s feeling sad and lonely.
Meryl Streep: Because she can do everything.