Connie Britton will play Roger Ailes’ wife in Jay Roach’s movie about the Fox News scandal, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.
Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Kate McKinnon, Margot Robbie, Allison Janney and John Lithgow also star.
The script is being penned by Academy Award-winner Charles Randolph (“The Big Short”). Theron, Beth Kono, and A.J. Dix of Denver and Delilah are producing alongside Roach, Randolph and Lighthouse Management and Media’s Margaret Media.
The film became a casualty of the ongoing upheaval at Annapurna when it was dropped over budget issues Oct. 9, two weeks before it was to begin production. The film had already locked down its main cast. A week later, Lionsgate started its discussions to pick up the feature film, and the company is still finalizing the deal to finance and distribute it. BRON Studios is currently financing the movie.
The film is expected to tell the story of the Fox News sexual harassment scandal from the point of view of the women who took on the toxic male culture of Fox News, ultimately leading to Roger Ailes’ downfall.
Ailes resigned from Fox News in 2016 after Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit that resulted in multiple women coming forward with similar claims. At the time, Ailes was considered the mastermind behind the success of Fox News and one of the most powerful men in both media and American politics.
Britton will next be seen in the Bravo series “Dirty John,” and her recent credits include an episode of Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story: Apocalypse,” “Nashville” and “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.”
She is represented by WME, Untitled and Hansen Jacobson.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported the news.