Megyn Kelly Character Cut From Showtime's Roger Ailes Series (Exclusive) Megyn Kelly The cabler's planned Fox News limi...
The cabler's planned Fox News limited series is writing off a character based on the star anchor, but Lionsgate̢۪s competing Ailes film is already shooting (and sticking to the script).
A Megyn Kelly character is getting the boot from a Showtime project about Fox News chief Roger Ailes̢۪ downfall, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Sources say the NBC News anchor will no longer be featured in the untitled limited series from producer Jason Blum, based on Gabriel Sherman̢۪s book The Loudest Voice in the Room.
The Kelly character's removal required minimal adjustments because she was a minor one in the eight-episode Showtime series, appearing in only a few scenes. Her character had not been cast yet (Naomi Watts will play Gretchen Carlson and Russell Crowe will portray Ailes).
"Megyn Kelly was a peripheral participant in Ailes̢۪ downfall," says Sherman, who co-wrote the first episode with Spotlight writer Tom McCarthy. "It was Gretchen Carlson and her lawyer Nancy Erika Smith who drove the events that led to Ailes̢۪ ouster. ... By the time [Kelly] spoke to investigators, Ailes̢۪ fate had been sealed. Any dramatization that makes her a central character in Ailes̢۪ takedown is pure fiction."
Meanwhile, Jay Roach̢۪s untitled film about the Fox News women who brought down Roger Ailes with their claims of sexual harassment is forging ahead with Charlize Theron portraying Kelly.
Though the filmmakers have been calling the film an ensemble piece, Theron is top-billed and also a producer. Production began in Los Angeles on Oct. 22, three days before NBC canceled Megyn Kelly Today after Kelly's comments about blackface, leaving the filmmakers in an awkward position â€" move forward with a tarnished heroine or delay production by refashioning Theron’s Kelly and tweaking Charles Randolph’s script into a roman a clef.
The movie already overcame one challenge earlier this month after it was dropped by Megan Ellison̢۪s Annapurna Pictures, leaving the filmmakers scrambling to find a new distributor. On Oct. 9, Lionsgate stepped in to release the film, which also stars Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie and John Lithgow (though a source says the deal is not officially closed yet but is very near the finish line).
This story appears in the Oct. 30 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
Source: Google News US Entertainment | Netizen 24 United States
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