Industry professionals are tweeting their support of guild members. Left: Greta Van Susteren. McKinnon has described her character as a closet liberal and closet gay woman. Her presence allows Bombshell to point out that Fox News is a more complicated place than its broadcasts might make it seem. Roger Ailes, the longtime Fox News leader who was ousted in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal, is played by John Lithgow. And the women we interviewed while researching described that feeling. The actress who was nominated for an Academy Award for 2017's I, Tonya is . But it could never tip into exploitativeness, says Randolph, who claimed a 2016 Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for his work on the financial dramedy The Big Short. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. After gaining a meeting with Ailes, Pospisil is sexually harassed and asked to pull her dress up beyond her waist. The inclusion of Kayla in the film as a composite allowed these other ex-Fox News workers to have their stories heard. Bombshell is a work of uncanniness. This week, Tom and Shiv get it on. Unfortunately, it is actually worse.". Roger Ailes attempted to force himself on Kelly three times early in her career, and she rebuked him. We would hear these stories about the spin, the director says. ", 'You could do worse, right?' Malcolm McDowell plays mogul and longtime Ailes enabler Rupert Murdoch in the movie, and his sons, James and Lachlan, are portrayed by real-life Aussie brothers Josh and Ben Lawson, respectively. Carlson didnt owe anybody shit, but had she not said something, men like Ailes; his successor; Bill OReilly; Bill Shine; and Charles Payne would still be at Fox News, and they would still be harassing women, and Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doofus would still be openly harassing their Fox & Friends co-host on air. The upcoming drama, which revolves around the Roger Ailes sexual harassment controversy and fallout at Fox, stars Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly and Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlsonand they're dead-ringers for their real-life counterparts. Offline, shes likely watching a Heat game or finding a new coffee shop. Kellys decision to come forward about the harassment she faced toward the beginning of her time at the company was similarly complicated and perhaps not as heroic as Bombshell makes it out to be: As Ailes biographer and former New York magazine reporter Gabriel Sherman wrote: Carlsons lawsuit presented an opportunity. The U2 singer called his Zelenskyy portrait a few squiggles and I just got out of the way.. That is an important argument, and Kayla, ambitious and vulnerable and fictional, expresses it well. While Huddy struggled for a while following her departure from Fox News, she is now a successful talk radio host and podcaster. "I wanted to show the bystander narrative. Here, too, are wide-ranging tragedies expressed through an aesthetic that verges on cartoonish. A lifelong Fox News fanatic and young evangelical ("I see myself as an influencer in the Jesus space," she says), Kayla soon catches the eye of Ailes, who promises to promote herto on-air talent in exchange for sexual favors. Bombshell is a fine enough film it's competently made, the performances are terrific, and it is sufficiently crazymaking but there are two phenomenal scenes in the film that make it well worth seeing. John Lithgow as Roger Ailes is in the bunch, sporting a heavy dose of prosthetics. But it might have been more revealing. Connie Britton takes on the role of Beth Ailes, Roger Ailes's wife. "Her being ideologically ferventlike a dedicated Republican, but a little sexually fluid and utterly morally sincere, that's based more on women in my life. All rights reserved. Jay Roach, writer Charlie Randolph, and Theron do a terrific job of acknowledging Kellys contributions to the ouster of Ailes while also damning her for contributing by her silence to the environment that allowed him to remain. Whos Going to the Met Gala Dressed as Karl Lagerfelds Cat? When Pospisil moves on to a new job on Bill OReillys show, she befriends Jess Carr, a producer played by Kate McKinnon. There are certainly things that we, as men, probably missed that a female director or a female writer would have gotten. Do we need to see another actor (John Lithgow in this case) creep on another actress (Margot Robbie here)? The most creative liberties were taken with Margot Robbie's Kayla Pospisil and Kate McKinnon's Jess Carr. Photos by Hilary Bronwyn Gayle SMPSP/Lionsgate and Drew Angerer/Getty Images. The abuse here is psychological. It wouldnt have been as sleek. But in terms of the sexual assault case that drives Pospisil's arc forward, the character was created after filmmakers interviewed a number of Fox News staffers who were bound by a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). But Kayla, a figure informed by everyone and therefore by no one, also makes the movie smoother and easier than it might be. Her other panelists labeled her as a support system during the tumultuous time in real life. For Bombshell, a trio of A-listersNicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, and Margot Robbiewere Fox-ified. While we cannot be sure what is true, it appears that the women were not given much freedom in regards to their appearance. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). Fox News spokesperson Caley Cronin declined to comment on the film to USA TODAY beyond confirming that "Bombshell"producers "never reached out to Fox News during any part of the production.. " I have even more responsibility because of that but it's also a privilege .". But this is how it happens, and it takes someone like Gretchen Carlson who I am sure has her own host of problematic issues separate from this to build enough personal capital in order to sacrifice it (and her career) to finally put a stop to men like Ailes. Then we'll see what happens.'" Bad Moments From Recent History, Recreated in Uncanny Detail, secret liberals within the walls of Fox News. The long sweep of America has been defined by forward motion, President Obama said in his farewell speech three years ago. "Bombshell" does show the audience how angry Ailes was at Carlson. Good for them (and us!). Similarly, the showdown between Lachlan and Ailes over anthrax in the office in the aftermath of 9/11 also really happened. As in the movie, some news sites like Breitbart reported that some of Foxs top talent promised to quit if Ailes were removed, but such a pact did not actually exist and may have been planted by Rogers team. Pospisil asked the fictional Kelly if she ever wondered what her public silence following her own harassment incidents meant to the women who came after her. She pulls the dress up higher, her hands trembling, until her underwear is exposed. A character named Kayla Pospisil (played by Oscar nominee Margot Robbie) is called before Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes (John Lithgow beneath layers of prosthetic jowl and wattle), who has ostensibly agreed to meet with the young segment producer to discuss her promotion from off-camera apparatchik to on-air talent Anchor Barbie as a co-worker (SNLs Kate McKinnon) calls it. Photo illustration by Slate. Its understandable, in some ways, that the character doing that work in the film would be fictional. It is through Kayla that the horrors and humiliations of sexual harassment are brought to the films screen. However, Bakhtiar's story goes further than this, as she progressed from her first experience of sexual misconduct at Fox News to standing up alongside Gretchen Carlson. He listens for a moment. Heres how to watch them host the events red carpet, together with Derek Blasberg and Emma Chamberlain. His deep dislike for Carlson is right in the center of "Bombshell," and this chilling exchange emphasizes just how far this goes. According to the Los Angeles Times, the book described how Ailes was willing to pay a female producer an additional $100 a week to have sex with him. Megyn Kelly's Most Controversial Moments Ever (opens in new tab), Margot Robbie Wore Sharon Tate's Jewelry in 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' (opens in new tab). "Each hair is hand-tied one by one," hairstylist Anne Morgan told the Washington Post, explaining the level of care and labor that went into them. In real life, Ailes had at least one employee, Laurie Luhnwho eventually publicly accused him of harassment herselfwhose job included luring young female Fox employees into one-on-one meetings with Ailes that Luhn knew would likely result in harassment, as New York magazine reported. The long answer is that Kayla Pospisil is a composite based on a few different accounts from actual people with connections to Fox News. Watch the full trailer above. She is the one whose arc, in the film, bends the most sharply. One of those women who could participate in the suit is Kayla Pospisil (Margot Robbie, who also snagged a Golden Globe nomination), a Christian woman whose ambitions get her a meeting with. Idon't have anything.". last updated October 14, 2021 In Bombshell, the buzzy, upcoming movie based on the downfall of Fox CEO Roger Ailes at the hands of the women he'd harassed, Margot Robbie plays a character named. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google The embattled Ailes asks thepolitician/attorney how to handle the fallout of his sexual harassment allegations. The software that cloned Drake and the Weeknds voices is easy to useand impossible to shut down. "Ailes had three different lawyers who we let Giuliani stand in for," Randolph says. Kelly then comes forward with her own case of harassment, followed by more than 20 other women (via Vulture). ADVERTISEMENT Theron plays Megyn Kelly, Kidman plays Gretchen Carlson and Robbie plays Kayla Pospisil. Right: Malcolm McDowell. Photos by Hilary Bronwyn Gayle SMPSP/Lionsgate and Andrew Toth/Getty Images. .css-gk9meg{display:block;font-family:Lausanne,Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;padding-top:0.25rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-gk9meg:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.15;margin-bottom:0.25rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 73.75rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}The Best, Craziest, Weirdest Moments From Cannes, Celebrities Who've Shaved Their Heads for Roles, 'Avatar: The Way of Water' Is Finally Streaming, 'Guardians of the Galaxy 3' Sticks the Landing, Damon Lindelof Was 'Asked to Leave' Star Wars, Christopher Nolan Is Hyping Up 'Oppenheimer', Pedro Pascal, Ethan Hawke Are a Great Cowboy Match, Seeing Hugh Grant's Oompa Loompa Will Break Me, 'The Flash' Just Debuted Another Massive Trailer, 13 Great Movies That Were Booed at Cannes. Additionally, in a Time magazine article about "Bombshell," it's said that Ailes' personality was overwhelming and intimidating, helping to create a climate in which his employess worked in a constant state of fear. Read on for a full account of whats fair, whats balanced, and whats potentially neither in the movie. As the movie illustrates, Trumps presidential candidacy proved to be a point of contention for Rupert Murdoch and Ailes. This is telling, from an ABC News piece in November 2016: I now know the number of women who were targeted, and its disturbing, she said.

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