Russell Crowe to play Fox News founder Roger Ailes
New Zealand-born Australian actor Russell Crowe. Image: AFP/Andrew Cowie
Ailes was the controversial figure who started Fox News, molding it into the political force that helped foster the rise of the American right, and the platform that embraced the ascension of Donald Trump.
Still untitled, the production will be based on reporter Gabriel Sherman’s bestseller “The Loudest Voice in the Room”. Sherman’s book began through the regular coverage he wrote for New York magazine; he co-wrote the first episode.
Showtime gave the go-ahead for an eight-episode limited series in April 2017. The Oscar-winning Rusell Crowe (for the film “Gladiator”) has newly been announced to star, making his United States television debut.
Along with revisiting his meeting with Richard Nixon, and the sexual harassment accusations and settlements that brought his Fox News reign to an end, the show will examine how Ailes, who died in 2017, became “the Republican Party’s de facto leader” (as Deadline calls him), explored through multiple points of view and focusing on the past decade. JB
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