It’s been around two years since the #MeToo first movement exploded across headlines – the accusations against producer Harvey Weinstein kicking off a global conversation about power, gender, and fame. Since then, there have already been a few solid film and TV efforts at understanding of the ceiling-shattering allegations – see Israel’s Working Woman, or Stan’s The Loudest Voice. But one wouldn’t be out of line to consider the upcoming Bombshell, set to be released in January, Hollywood’s first true #MeToo movie.
Chronicling the series of accusations levelled against Roger Ailes (played here by John Lithgow), Bombshell stars Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie as three female Fox personnel who come together to take down the late CEO of Fox News. From this first, surprisingly zippy trailer, we seemingly only get each character in the midst of their own storyline, which could suggest that the film’s story will present three individual accounts of the 2016 news story.
Either way, that use of Billie Eilish’s ‘bad guy’ seems to hint that Trumbo director Jay Roach is interested in a similar, ‘edu-tainment’ vibe to last year’s Best Picture nominee Vice – could Bombshell perform just as well, being another dark inside story of institutionalised evil in recent politics?
While Robbie is playing a fictionalised character, acting as a composite for several real-life victims, Theron is subtly transformed into anchor-woman Megyn Kelly through some sly prosthetic work. Kidman’s character, Gretchen Carlson, has previously been portrayed by Naomi Watts in the Showtime drama series The Loudest Voice, with Russell Crowe as Ailes. It’s fair to say that while Bombshell looks to be the first big film addressing the #MeToo movement, it certainly won’t be the last – after all, there are other stories of harassment that did not solely affect blonde, white women.
Bombshell is scheduled to be released on the 16th of January, 2020.
