Malcolm McDowell is set to play Rupert Murdoch in Jay Roach’s forthcoming film about Fox News, an international publication reported. The film, written by Charles Randolph (‘The Big Short’) and directed by Roach (‘Austin Powers, The Campaign’), will cover the 2016 downfall of Fox CEO Roger Ailes, who was ousted after female employees spoke out against misogyny at the US network. The ‘A Clockwork Orange’ star joins an ensemble cast including John Lithgow, Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron and Margot Robbie. Lithgow will play Ailes, while Kidman will play anchor Gretchen Carlson, who sued Ailes for harassment in 2016. Theron will play anchor Megyn Kelly, whose similar accusation hastened Ailes’s departure. Robbie’s character will be a fictional associate producer. Further roles are expected to be cast, such as Fox hosts Greta Van Susteren, who quit the network in 2016 saying it had “not felt like home” for several years, and Bill O’Reilly, who was fired following allegations of sexual harassment, which he denied. The film as yet has no official title or release date. In the meantime, Roach’s film will face competition from a new eight-episode TV biopic of Ailes. Russell Crowe is set to play the chief executive in the last decade of his life. Ailes died last year, aged 77. The show, currently titled The Loudest Voice in the Room, will air on Showtime in early 2019.
Published in Daily Times, September 12th 2018.
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