Robbie, Kidman join Theron in film about harassment scandal

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Margot Robbie and Nicole Kidman have both joined Charlize Theron’s film about the scandal that rocked Rupert Murdoch’s US media empire.

The trio of award-winning actresses have signed for leading roles in an untitled political drama from director Jay Roach, who chronicled the 2008 US presidential election in the Emmy Award-winning HBO television movie Game Change.

In this latest project, Roach will cover the sexual harassment scandal at Murdoch’s US cable channel Fox that led to the resignation of the network’s president Roger Ailes in 2016.

The late Ailes was sued by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson over allegations of sexual misconduct, forcing Murdoch himself to temporarily step in to oversee control of the network. 21st Century Fox ultimately settled the suit with Carlson, and Ailes himself died not long after resigning from the company.

The film version has cast Emmy-winning Big Little Lies star Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson and Charlize Theron as fellow former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, who left the network after claiming that she too had faced harassment.

Robbie will play a fictionalised associate Fox News producer who is an amalgamation of real-life figures who worked with both Carlson and Kelly behind the scenes, reports TheWrap.

The screenplay for this presently-untitled project is being penned by Charles Randolph, best known for writing Love & Other Drugs and winning the Oscar for his script for US political comedy The Big Short.

No release date has yet been announced for Roach’s Fox News scandal film.

Published in Daily Times, August 4^th 2018.