Amaze your friends with your new-found knowledge! Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. But if Ailes is the boss, he’s not the king — that’s Rupert Murdoch (Malcolm McDowell), the corporate baron who, at that point, is still skeptical of Trump.
Megyn Kelly, and Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly.
“Bombshell” has a finely textured, savagely pinpoint, you-are-there verisimilitude that the films of Adam McKay (“Vice”), with their fusion of topicality and borderline satirical ‘tude, don’t.
Photo illustration by Slate. Photo illustration by Slate.
Ailes did have friends and allies, too, including Rudy Giuliani (played by Richard Kind in the movie) and his lawyer, Susan Estrich (played by Allison Janney), despite her background as a staunch feminist. “Will he get away with this? ", 'You could do worse, right?' Although Kayla is a fictional character, her experiences of harassment are drawn from interviews Randolph and Roach conducted with ex-Fox News staffers (some of whom violated their non-disclosure agreements to speak with filmmakers). Slate relies on advertising to support our journalism.
In my opinion the primary message of this movie is to protect and defend your personal standards and principles and be vigilantly on the lookout for those who do not have your best interests at heart. The way the film portrays it, she does and she doesn’t. Ambition and drive are fabulous attributes, though this film prompts us to…
In short, true beauty is not just skin deep. But after the situation has settled a bit, she agrees to do a one-on-one interview with Trump, and when she’s in a Fox editing suite watching the tape, her own husband, Doug (Mark Duplass), calls her on the carpet — for going too easy on Trump, letting him off the hook. The office backbiting, the water-cooler ambition and treachery, the abusive secrets hovering in the air like smoke from burnt rubber — all of that gives “Bombshell” the excitement of gossip infused with psychodrama. Robbie plays an ambitious, wide-eyed staffer named Kayla Pospisil.
A lifelong Fox News fanatic and young evangelical ("I see myself as an influencer in the Jesus space," she says), Kayla soon catches the eye of Ailes, who promises to promote her to on-air talent in exchange for sexual favors. "When you're in the room and you appreciate the intonations and context of it, you can see how it could be utterly life-changing and maddening and complicated for a young woman,' " Randolph says.
Megyn Kelly approves of Charlize Theron's 'Bombshell' casting.
Last 50 years
Kelly understands this because she herself was harassed by Ailes, the corpulent pasha who micromanages the news feed (and insists that the women on-air sit behind plexiglass desks that expose their legs), even as he treats the office itself as his brothel. But “Bombshell” also shows us the cost that this fight extracted. When it came time to go, Ailes did agree to a noncompete clause, and indeed didn’t get his wish to say goodbye and address the newsroom along with Rupert Murdoch, who did that on his own, locking Ailes out unceremoniously. Or would it be a Hollywood whitewash? Bad Moments From Recent History, Recreated in Uncanny Detail, secret liberals within the walls of Fox News. © Copyright 2020 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. Gretchen Carlson, and Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson. (And who doesn’t?)
In modern usage, bombshell refers to a very attractive woman. Beware, all evil seeps in slowly. Together, they drop a very big bomb, and the world is still reeling from the fallout. "Ailes had three different lawyers who we let Giuliani stand in for," Randolph says. Lithgow, who is one of the wittiest actors alive, makes Ailes disarmingly human: a despot who’s ironic about his ogre-like qualities, with a hidden glimmer of vulnerability that only makes him scarier.
Played by Connie Britton in the movie, Ailes’ wife, Beth, was by his side throughout the scandal, reportedly taking it just as personally as he did. Kelly could bust up the boys’ club at Fox, put herself on the right side of a snowballing media story, and rid herself of a boss who was no longer supportive of her—all while maximizing her leverage in a contract negotiation.”. Ailes (John Lithgow), a right-wing ideologue, is also a showbiz junkie with a genius for what it takes to heat up the cool medium of television; he gets Trump and loves him.
[9] Some of the movie stars, largely of the 1940s–1960s, referred to as bombshells include Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth[10], Diana Dors[11], Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren[12], Jane Russell, Ava Gardner, Carroll Baker, Brigitte Bardot[13], Kim Novak, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Ann-Margret, Veronica Lake, Raquel Welch, Ursula Andress,[14][15] and Gina Lollobrigida [16], The epithet rose sharply in popularity after the death of Marilyn Monroe in 1962, and declined in popularity in the late 1960s due to emerging ideological conflicts. Will Megyn speak out? leading the Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations, accused of sexual harassment by more than 20 women, Charlize Theron transforms into Megyn Kelly, blasts the Fox News patriarchy in 'Bombshell', Gretchen Carlson calls for change on big 'Bombshell' day, Megyn Kelly approves of Charlize Theron's 'Bombshell' casting. Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie play the women who brought down Fox News mogul Roger Ailes in the first drama of riveting insight to anatomize sexual harassment for the post-#MeToo world. It turns out to be the latter, which suggests that taking on the right-wing power structure is a dangerous thing to do. ", The film shows a competitive work environment at Fox News for female anchors and producers, many of whom rarely spoke or befriended each other. How shallow.
All rights reserved. But then Kayla sidles up to Ailes’ assistant (Holland Taylor), who is also his procurer. Manipulation vs. Is Kate McKinnon's character fictional, too? The drama (in theaters now) goes behind the scenes at Fox News in 2016. Her decision to confront Trump on the issue of women arrives at a moment when Fox is ambivalent about Trump, because the network is still weighing his influence. There’s backstage drama as Kelly, on the day of the debate, gets so sick that she throws up repeatedly. Like the ultimate seducer who mesmerizingly lures its prey – come into my web said the spider to the fly!
The scene is lifted directly from Kelly's 2016 memoir "Settle for More," although the journalist refuted inferences by the New York Times and others that she was poisoned, tweeting that she contracted a "stomach virus" before the debate. Afshan Jafar and Erynn Masi de Casanova (edited), Last edited on 19 September 2020, at 14:31, "bombshell – Definition of bombshell in English by Oxford Dictionaries", "Get To Know Rita Hayworth, The Reluctant Bombshell", "The British Marilyn: Blonde Bombshell Diana Dors", "Brigitte Bardot's Best Bombshell Moments at the Cannes Film Festival", "The Italian Bombshell Who Proved That Life Is About Much More Than Curves", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bombshell_(slang)&oldid=979221442, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 19 September 2020, at 14:31. Photo illustration by Slate. Charlize Theron does an outstanding job as Megyn Kelly, as does Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson. This year alone I was interviewed several times by four different female newscasters (Joycelyn Laidlaw CTV, Leslie Horton Global News, Sarah Crosbie JACK FM, Sue Deyell 770 Talk Radio) all of whom are amazing, independent, brainy, and are beautiful inside and out; and all of whom I respect and admire greatly.
On the contrary; in defense of good men everywhere, the whole world knows that truly strong men possess self-control (i.e. Ambition and drive are fabulous attributes, though this film prompts us to be wary of blurred goal-directed determination that can lead to compromising personal values and morals in order to achieve career objectives. As in the movie, he was known for asking women to stand up and spin around for him as well as justifying his actions by calling television a “visual medium.” Even the horrible details of his parents’ divorce—they are said to have broken up and moved out of his childhood home while he was away at college—are real: That one appears in Gabriel Sherman’s book. This movie also hints at ageism showing how youth and physical characteristics are weighted heavily in objectifying women. "Megyn has a good ear for absurdist details.". The Roger Ailes of the world need to come into the future with the rest of us! the ability to subdue one’s impulses, emotions, and behaviors to achieve long-term goals, which is a trait that separates modern humans from their ancient predecessors and the rest of the animal kingdom), and are respectful in their approach towards both women and men. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He indeed occupied a second-floor suite at the News Corp. headquarters in New York City with a camera outside his door. But, of course, he’s also playing Kayla, grooming her.
Maybe I’m just an optimist but at least it’s something for us humans to aspire to. Theron, wearing prosthetics that alter her features with convincing subtlety, makes her tough and likable — a straight-shooter with the hardness of a diamond. If you value our work, please disable your ad blocker. Last 10 years It becomes one of the first of Trump’s sick-joke Twitter memes. [4][5][6][7] Two years later, she starred in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film Bombshell (1933). Photos by Hilary Bronwyn Gayle SMPSP/Lionsgate and Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Hollywood Reporter. Photos by Hilary Bronwyn Gayle SMPSP/Lionsgate and Wesley Mann/FOX News via Getty Images. No strings attached, and they don’t leave a bitter taste in your mouth. The movie is also faithful in its depiction of the relationship between Kelly and Gretchen Carlson, who kicked off Ailes’ eventual ouster by publicly accusing him of sexual harassment: The two were collegial but not friends. Similarly, the showdown between Lachlan and Ailes over anthrax in the office in the aftermath of 9/11 also really happened. Neither one of them is still at the network, but the movie, in fact, acknowledges their complicity. ", Review:Charlize Theron transforms into Megyn Kelly, blasts the Fox News patriarchy in 'Bombshell', 'I want my voice back':Gretchen Carlson calls for change on big 'Bombshell' day. We all know age (and death) are the great equalizers, which is why I hope we are evolving into a species that evenly values inner beauty (e.g. Last 100 years Rupert Murdoch, and Malcolm McDowell as Rupert Murdoch.