Bad Moments From Recent History, Recreated in Uncanny Detail, secret liberals within the walls of Fox News. Those women, as real and historical figures, have contributed to the rise of a network that has often made a mockery of the very things Bombshell celebrates: collaboration, courage, justice. My colleague Conor Friedersdorf, writing after the publication of the Babe.net report about an unnamed womans sexual experience with Aziz Ansari and the New Yorker story Cat Person, argued that fiction can be functional. The end! 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. Its not Megyn Kellys fault that Roger Ailes was a monster. Rupert Murdoch, and Malcolm McDowell as Rupert Murdoch. She pulls the dress up higher, her hands trembling, until her underwear is exposed. That is the uncomfortable fact of this film. While critics could argue that Robbie didn't have to worry about portraying real-life people like Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman did (read: Megyn Kelly and Gretchen Carlson, respectively), Robbie still gives a standout performance in the movieshe plays a young conservative woman who belongs to a large Fox News-watching Republican family. 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 Murdoch brothers, and Josh and Ben Lawson as James and Lachlan Murdoch. "Ailes had three different lawyers who we let Giuliani stand in for," Randolph says. The case against Ailes snowballed shortly after . A small handful of women who do have their names attached to the project may have violated their NDAs, but as of now, there has been no retaliation taken against them, according to THR. Rudi Bakhitar agreed, stating,"It really puts people in our shoes." According to Randolph, important details down to the specific scene with Kayla and Ailes were taken accurately from these interviews. Portrayed in "Bombshell" by Nazanin Boniadi, Rudi Bakhtiar was a Fox News journalist who came out with allegations against Brian Wilson (via New York), the former Fox News Washington bureau chief. "What happens inside of Roger's office is based on the stories of three women we had access to," Randolph says. This password will be used to sign into all, a Vulture senior reporter who covers Hollywood. The long answer is that Kayla Pospisil is a composite based on a few different accounts from actual people with connections to Fox News. 2023 The scene is intimate. Kayla is confused. AI Singers Are Unnervingly Good and Already Ubiquitous, Concertgoer Allegedly Orgasms While L.A. Philharmonic Plays Tchaikovskys 5th, Melanie Lynskey, Seth Meyers, and More Support WGA Amid Negotiations. The Stand up and give me a twirl sequence required a particular form of self-awareness. It was clear that Ailes was able to keep tabs on everyone he employed, and Camerota was informed by her agent that no more offers would be forthcoming. You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. Charlize Theron plays Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly in Bombshell, and the movie opens as she is preparing to host a 2015 Republican presidential primary debate that would go on to cause a monthslong feud between her and future President Donald Trump. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Idon't have anything.". If Kayla, a self-described "evangelical millennial," feels familiar, it's because the inspiration for her comes from actual accounts. This fabricated moment was addressed in the Kelly panel by former "Fox News Live" associate producer Julie Zann: "This is shameful because it is unfactual it is victim shaming this is sending the wrong message.". More recently, The Guardian reported in July 2020 on new allegations of sexual abuse and assault against former national correspondent Ed Henry and a few other big Fox personalities. Margot Robbie plays a fictitious news producer named Kayla Pospisil. Short skirts were required and pants were banned." Starting with the makeup that transformed Theron into Kelly, the films pleasures and its indictments come in large part through its painstaking re-creations of real-life people. Photo illustration by Slate. 21/04/2023 But Bombshells message, for all that, is straightforward: All women, no matter their politics, deserve to work in environments that are respectful and safe. In an article from The Guardian, however, a Fox News spokesperson said, "No edict exists on what women are required to wear." So to capture these situations, it takes both genders to think through how these things work. Wed heard how fatherly he could be, jokey, and a good coach. "When you're in the room and you appreciate the intonations and context of it, you can see how it could be utterly life-changing and maddening and complicated for a young woman,' " Randolph says. As in the movie, he was known for asking women to stand up and spin around for him as well as justifying his actions by calling television a visual medium. Even the horrible details of his parents divorcethey are said to have broken up and moved out of his childhood home while he was away at collegeare real: That one appears in Gabriel Shermans book. What would the film have looked like had her character not been part of its universehad Bombshell reckoned more directly with its real and deeply flawed heroines? Kelly may be the star of the show; Kayla, however, is its moral center. Pospisil also mentions how she can prove her brand of "Christian millennial" is profitable by the millions of Instagram followers she has. Throughout the film, Kayla must grapple with the fact that a man with a lot of power, a person whos the driving force behind a corporation she idolizes, sexually assaulted her. The dried-out husk of Kendalls soul is up, Roman is spiraling down, and the game of. It's unclear why Jay Roach and Charles Randolph decided to change this in "Bombshell," but Kelly was quick to debunk it. In it, Kayla, a young and ambitious producer at the network, gets an opportunity that doubles as currency at Fox News: a private meeting with Roger Ailes, the chairman and CEO. Most recently, she was the Managing Editor at Coveteur, where she oversaw the sites day-to-day editorial operations. La La Anthony, Chloe Fineman Will Play Fashion Correspondents at Met Gala 2023. Ailes did have friends and allies, too, including Rudy Giuliani (played by Richard Kind in the movie) and his lawyer, Susan Estrich (played by Allison Janney), despite her background as a staunch feminist. But we tried to communicate as much as we could with everybody." For the purposes of "Bombshell," the narrative begins with Carlson's allegation, perhaps to portray the events from the point of the view of the main female characters. Photo illustration by Slate. Right: Charlize Theron portraying Kelly in, Left: Gretchen Carlson. 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. Justin Kirkland is a Brooklyn-based writer who covers culture, food, and the South. "Bombshell" also illustrates Ailes' predatory behavior: asking women to spin in front of him during meetings, and demanding that on-air talent wearshort skirts to show off their legs. The black room and the employing of detectives to dig up dirt was real, too. The U2 singer called his Zelenskyy portrait a few squiggles and I just got out of the way.. Also, Bombshell is a great airplane film, or at least a good enough movie to watch at home after its digital release, if only for Margot Robbies fantastic supporting performance (and pillow talk with Kate McKinnon). Starring Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie, the film chronicles the sexual misconduct allegations and subsequent downfall of Fox News CEO, Roger Ailes. "Wow! She really had been speaking to her attorneys far in advance of filing the actual lawsuitin New Jersey and against Ailes personally, rather than the company, to avoid arbitrationand its also true that she had started recording her conversations with Ailes in the year or so leading up to her firing. Gretchen Carlson, and Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson. Roger Ailes, and John Lithgow as Roger Ailes. 1 segundo ago. Get to know who's who in the cast before you watch the movie in theaters. Related: Why is Fox News being sued again over alleged sexual harassment? 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. Kelly could bust up the boys club at Fox, put herself on the right side of a snowballing media story, and rid herself of a boss who was no longer supportive of herall while maximizing her leverage in a contract negotiation.. She is the one who is capable of breaking the movies fourth wall, speaking directly to the audience. 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. NY 10036. As they say, it takes a village, and here, theres the clear villain in Roger Ailes, but theres the secretary who sent the young women into Ailes office fully aware of what was happening (the secretary is also singled out in the Showtime series); theres Ailes wife, Beth (Connie Britton), who looked the other way when she knew better; there are all the women like Megyn Kelly who experienced the worst ordeals of their lives and knowingly allowed it to happen to the women that came after them in order to protect their own careers; and there are the husbands and the boyfriends, who knew what happening but remained silent, too, because they didnt want to rock the boat, or endanger a salary. 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. Knowing that he has the power to make her career in journalismless aware, at the time, that he also has the power to break itKayla sits on Ailess couch, thrilled. The new movie Bombshell tells the story of how the women of Fox News brought down the networks infamous CEO, Roger Ailes, but it does so by filling the film with a mix of characters who are based on real figures and others who have no one real-life counterpart. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Robbie plays Kayla Pospisil, a fictional composite. Camerota, in between inappropriate advances from Ailes, was promoted and began anchoring shortly after joining Fox News. For more stories like this, including celebrity news, beauty and fashion advice, savvy political commentary, and fascinating features, sign up for theMarie Clairenewsletter. This inevitably leaves holes in the story, though, as not everything can be included. Left: Rudy Giuliani. During the discussion, Kelly went on to say that she found the scene to be counterproductive in regards to the #MeToo movement overall, hinting that it was inaccurate about the women's relationship because a man wrote it. In it, Kayla, a young and ambitious producer at the network, gets an opportunity that doubles as currency at Fox News: a private meeting with Roger Ailes, the chairman and CEO. The film was directed by Jay Roach ("Trumbo") and written by Charles Randolph ("The Big Short"), who breaks down what's fact, fiction and somewhere in between. The results? Chloe is a News Writer for Townandcountrymag.com, where she covers royal news, from the latest additions to Meghan Markles staff to Queen Elizabeths monochrome fashions; she also writes about culture, often dissecting TV shows like The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and Killing Eve. Kayla ends up having a one-on-one with Ailes (John Lithgow) to discuss her career path at Fox. 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. A timeline of Justin Bieber, Hailey Bieber, and Selena Gomezs love triangle. Left: Rudi Bakhtiar. To play anchor Gretchen Carlson, host Megyn Kelly, and composite character Kayla Pospisil. The objective: to ensure the films balance of levity and gravity in which strong female characters are shown accepting a baseline level of sexual degradation and coarse behavior to get ahead in the cutthroat, male-dominated world of cable news wouldnt turn off viewers. LOS ANGELESIn "Bombshell," Margot Robbie and John Lithgow figure in the film's most disturbing sexual harassment scene. .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. The film outlines an extremely important time in the U.S. surrounding the 2016 presidential race, and highlights the right-wing bias of Fox News, which is depicted as being riddled with misogyny and enabling inappropriate power dynamics. Mark Duplass stars as Kelly's husband, Douglas Brunt, an author and former CEO of the Internet security company Authentium, Inc. Bree Condon (Ironclad, Vampire Diaries) also makes an appearance in the form of Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host and Donald Trump Jr.'s current girlfriend. Why would anyone want to watch that play out again for two hours in Bombshell? Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly revealed Thursday that she watched "Bombshell" with several other former Fox News staffers depicted in the film, which chronicles allegations of sexual harassment, and the culture of secrecy surrounding them, involving the network's founder Roger Ailes. T he new film Bombshell, which recently snagged two Golden Globe and four SAG Awards nominations, tells the true story of the sexual harassment scandal that took down Roger Ailes, the head of Fox . That is an important argument, and Kayla, ambitious and vulnerable and fictional, expresses it well. Margot Robbie as Kayla Pospisil Robbie is the biggest star in the film not to play a real person: she will take on the role of Kayla Pospisil, a Fox News associate producer invented for the. It is through Kayla that the horrors and humiliations of sexual harassment are brought to the films screen. Comedian Kevin Dorff portrays Bill O'Reilly, and Shes Out of My Leagues Alice Eve plays Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt. Such scenes were drawn from Kelly's book, as well as Gabriel Sherman's 2014 Ailes biography "The Loudest Voice in the Room" and Sarah Ellison's 2016 expose for Vanity Fair, Randolph says. But any harassment situation has two people in the room and historically, the perpetrator has been a man. This content is imported from youTube. When Camerota attempted to branch out and explore new opportunities outside of Fox News, Ailes stopped this from happening. As the movie illustrates, Trumps presidential candidacy proved to be a point of contention for Rupert Murdoch and Ailes. Aileshis initial warmth growing colder as he issues commandsasks her to hike up the bottom of her dress. If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Viewers of the film may wonder if the victims felt represented correctly. Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie star in the drama "Bombshell," about the women who took down Fox News' Roger Ailes. Privacy Policy and Theron's resemblance to Kelly is especially shocking. She just said, Listen, I trust you and I trust the way youre coming at this. Charlizes collaboration and power in the overall hierarchy was imperative. Margot Robbie also stars as a fictional Fox News producer named Kayla Pospisil, who appears in the trailer with Kelly and Carlson as they head to the network's executive suite on the second floor. Based on the true story of the 2016 sexual assault suit against Roger Ailes, the CEO and chairman of Fox News, "Bombshell" was directed by Jay Roach and stars Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie. It wouldnt have been as sleek. Bombshell is rendered in the style of Vice and The Big Short (its screenwriter, Charles Randolph, also wrote the screenplay for the latter). She tells Ailes about her career. The rest is pulled from Randolph's evangelical upbringing. Perhaps one of the most infamous moments in the film arrives when Megyn Kelly isquestioning then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2015 on Fox News. Similarly, Is Kayla supposed to be Tomi Lahren? Left: Sean Hannity. Let's break down exactly what was missed from this important story. All contents Then we'll see what happens.'" (Though whether Pirro confronted Megyn Kelly at a vending machine and asked her to do the same, as in the movie, is less clear.) 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). Ailes was more deferential of Trump than Rupert initially was, and this may have worked to the sons advantage in eventually pushing for Ailes ouster. But Bombshell is primarily Kellys story. The film begins with an anxious but steely Megyn en route to moderate the first debate of the Republican primary campaign. At the center of Bombshell (opening Dec. 20) are Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman), Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron), and Kayla Pospisil (Margot Robbie), all news anchors or producers at Fox News . Roy Wood Jr.s Best Jokes at the 2023 White House Correspondents Dinner. So it is notable, in that regard, that the woman in the scene is one of the characters in Bombshell who is not based on a specific person. Former Fox contributor Tamara Holder told The Hollywood Reporter that she signed an agreement that comes with a penalty of $500,000 if she breaks her NDA, though it's unclear if Fox would follow through on that consequence. As mentioned earlier, Alisyn Camerota's Vanity Fair article was extremely informative. Invented stories, he suggested, could be the most efficient way to talk about the things so many people wanted to be talking about when it came to those stories: the gray areas of consent; sex that is bad not in a criminal sense, but in another way. Kayla Pospisil, the ambitious young "evangelical millennial" producer (played by Margot Robbie) who works for Carlson's show when she is introduced, is a composite character invented for the . Margot Robbie plays a fictitious news producer named Kayla Pospisil. (L to R) Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie play Megyn Kelly, Gretchen Carlson, and Kayla Pospisil, respectively. 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. Megyn Kelly (Theron) acts as the primary narrator of the film that kicks off with Gretchen Carlson's (Kidman) initial allegations against Ailes. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president?". The most creative liberties were taken with Margot Robbie's Kayla Pospisil and Kate McKinnon's Jess Carr. Megyn's story is the story of someone who comes to discover she is complicit by virtue of the institutional norms and her ability to manipulate them in the predation of a younger generation of women. If you wanted to be a Republican public intellectual, all avenues went through Roger Ailes' office, and that mattered in terms of his ability to prey on young people who hadaspirations. "Bombshell" exploded into the awards race last week, leading the Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations with four nods, including best ensemble, actress (Charlize Theron) and supporting actress (Margot Robbie and Nicole Kidman). Photos by Hilary Bronwyn Gayle SMPSP/Lionsgate and Drew Angerer/Getty Images. She was, as in the movie, one of the people who pressured Megyn Kelly to speak out on Ailes behalf after the Carlson lawsuit came out. The reality of this workplace would be extreme for those who experienced it and perhaps difficult to capture in one film. The 20 women or so who spoke to the filmmakers via anonymity did break their NDAs, but the filmmakers and those involved in the film have also agreed to protect their sources. In a week where a reality TV favourite finally addressed its known colorism problem, Netflix UK dropped The Strays (February 22) a psycholo, Over the decades, popular culture has created dominant narratives of the Dominican Republic that are most often synonymous with poverty, crime, or state vi, This story contains spoilers for Ant-Man: Quantumania. Left: Susan Estrich. Right: Spencer Garrett. 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. Even though they sleep together, Kayla insists shes not gay, but the real scandal is that Jess Carr is a closeted Democrat working at Fox News. ", Review: Charlize Theron transforms into Megyn Kelly, blasts the Fox News patriarchy in 'Bombshell', 'I want my voice back': Gretchen Carlson calls for change on big 'Bombshell' day. Was Fox News circa 2016 as misogynistic a place as the movie suggest? Within the fiction of Bombshell, Pospisil is an associate producer who moves from Gretchen Carlson's program to The O'Reilly Factor. Self-described as a "evangelical millennial," she explains that she comes from a family that is fully entrenched in the world of Fox News to the point that they "watch it every Thanksgiving." When Robbie's Kayla begins a new on-air role, she arrives at her desk with pageant queen hair, garish stage makeup, and a black-and-white bodycon dress. Once there, she was faced with sexism in regards to her appearance, and began to feel that her responsibilities had been heavily altered as a result of her refusing Wilson's sexual advances. Its also true that there was longstanding tension between the brothers and Ailes, which is part of why they supported quickly conducting an internal investigation at Fox News. " I have even more responsibility because of that but it's also a privilege .". That freedom, however, also allows a story about sexual harassment to wander, at times, into the realm of the fanciful. questioning then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, former "Fox News Live" associate producer Julie Zann. "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. Most of these Halloween costumes double as stylish additions to your closet. 2019 brought us a critically acclaimed based-on-a-true-story film in the form of "Bombshell," directed by Jay Roach and written by Charles Randolph. In the growing list of Academy Award contenders, Bombshell is one film that has been buzzing for a long time. Spencer Garrett (Air Force One) portrays conservative talk show host and commentator Sean Hannity. The above scene underscores both the ambition of the film and its inherent challenges. Despite writing to Fox News programming executive Bill Shine that she felt like she was being gradually cast aside on the show and the network due to the Wilson issue, she was let go by Roger Ailes a short time later.

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