Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson. Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly. Hollywood is going big for movie on Roger Ailes's sexual harassment scandal.
Hollywood is lining up some A-list stars to play Fox News’ former A-list anchors in what is shaping up to be a high-powered, highly charged drama on the downfall of Roger Ailes.
According to Variety, Oscar winner Nicole Kidman is in negotiations to play Gretchen Carlson alongside Charlize Theron’s Megyn Kelly in the still-untitled film about the Fox News stars who left the conservative network because of reported sexual harassment at the hands of disgraced former Fox News chief Ailes (who died in May 2017). Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Oscar nominee Margot Robbie is also in talks to co-star in the film, playing an associate producer at the cable network.
It’s the latest ripped-from-recent-headlines offering from director Jay Roach, who also helmed 2008’s Recount (about the 2000 presidential election fiasco) and 2012’s Game Change (about Sarah Palin joining John McCain’s presidential ticket in 2008). The script, meanwhile, will be written by Charles Randolph, who won an Oscar for co-penning 2015’s The Big Short with Adam McKay.
The Hollywood Reporter announced that the film will be an ensemble effort that also features portrayals of Greta Van Susteren, Rupert Murdoch, and Bill O’Reilly. And given that Ailes was also instrumental in the rise of controversial Fox News star Sean Hannity, it’s easy to imagine that he too will somehow factor into these fictionalized proceedings. For now, none of those roles have been cast, but the trio of Theron, Kidman, and Robbie immediately elevates the project to another level — and helps make it yet another A-list political endeavor for studio Annapurna, which is presently prepping McKay’s Dick Cheney drama Backseat (starring Christian Bale and Amy Adams) for a Dec. 21 theatrical release.
Kelly detailed her allegations against Ailes in her 2016 memoir Settle for More, which was released only a few months after Carlson first opened up about Ailes’s mistreatment of her. Carlson filed a lawsuit against the network bigwig on July 6, 2016, claiming she had been fired from the network for refusing Ailes’s inappropriate sexual advances — a suit that helped compel Ailes to resign from Fox News on July 21, 2016, and which was settled that September by 20th Century Fox Corporation. Carlson has since spoken out at great length about the mistreatment she received both from Ailes and others during her varied career, which began with her winning the Miss America contest in 1989 and included joining Fox News in 2005.
Theron, Kidman, and Robbie’s untitled political film currently has no release date. Kidman will next be seen in this December’s Aquaman and Destroyer, while Robbie will star in this December’s Mary Queen of Scots.
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Gretchen Carlson Condemns Trump’s Appointment of Former Boss, Fox News Executive Bill Shine
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