More than 20 years after founding the Fox News Channel on cable television, famous Republican strategist Roger Ailes and his resignation in July after ex-anchor Gretchen Carlson sued him for sexual harassment will be the focus of an upcoming TV miniseries.
Liberal and unauthorized Ailes biographer Gabriel Sherman -- whose book The Loudest Voice in the Room will serve as some of the source material for the series -- will collaborate with Tom McCarthy, whose independent film Spotlight won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay in 2015, as noted in an announcement made at Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit.
According to an article posted on Wednesday by Brian Stelter on the CNN Money website, “Sherman's wife -- Jennifer Stahl, an editor and fact-checker -- will co-executive produce and write the series” while McCarthy will be the primary executive producer.
“The miniseries is in development now,” Stelter noted, and “it has already received financing from Blumhouse, the Hollywood production company” founded and led by Jason Blum.
“Blumhouse is also behind horror movies (The Purge), TV movies (The Normal Heart) and miniseries (The Jinx),” the reporter stated before indicating that what Blum, Sherman and McCarthy don't have yet is a distributor.
The project has not yet been pitched to any television networks, a Blumhouse spokesman told the Cable News Network.
Stelter added that “the dramatic potential of the story is obvious.” Ailes stepped down as chairman and chief executive officer of Fox News after Carlson and other women stepped forward to allege harassment and abuse.
“The channel's parent company, 21st Century Fox, subsequently issued an apology to Carlson and paid a $20 million settlement,” Stelter noted before stating that “Ailes did not pay a penny of that settlement, however, and he has vigorously denied the allegations against him.”
While on stage at the Vanity Fair event, “Sherman speculated about possible casting choices for Ailes.” naming Anthony Hopkins and John Goodman as two possibilities.
During the same session at the event, Vanity Fair writer Sarah Ellison reported that Fox anchor Megyn Kelly, who reportedly told internal investigators “bombshell allegations about sexual harassment” by Ailes, is adding an extra chapter about him to her forthcoming book, which will be entitled Settle for More and be released in November.
Also on Wednesday, Vanity Fair reporter Emily Jane Fox confirmed that Kelly, “one of the bright stars at Fox,” will indeed “dish about Ailes” in her upcoming book.
Fox noted that the host of The Kelly File “has had quite a year” before explaining: “She snagged a prime-time news magazine-style interview show” and “tussled with Donald Trump for months after pointedly asking him about his history of misogyny at the first GOP debate last summer.”
In addition, Kelly encouraged more women to discuss the harassment with investigators and even appeared on a cover of Vanity Fair magazine.
Ellison also noted that “James and Lachlan Murdoch, the chief executive officer and co-chairman of 21st Century Fox, respectively, have been pulling out all the stops to get Kelly to renew her contract before her book comes out.”
“The brothers have just recently asked her to re-sign before she goes on book tour, on a whole speaking tour," she added. "Before everyone’s going to ask her what she’s going to do, they want to lock her in.”
While on stage with Sherman, Ellison revealed that Ailes and his longtime friend, Donald Trump, have had a falling out and are no longer talking.
“Ellison and Sherman’s news breaks were part of a two-day event in San Francisco that "brings together leaders in business, technology, media and entertainment,” Fox noted.
As NewsBusters reported in April of 2015, Ailes stated during an interview with Marisa Guthrie of The Hollywood Reporter that “no matter what Hillary does, the press will vote for her.”
Two days later, Erik Wemple, media blogger for the Washington Post, declared that “it makes no sense” to say that members of the press will vote for Hillary and “blustered about how tough the media is acting.”
During last September, Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos grilled Trump Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway if it's “appropriate” for Roger Ailes to advise the Republican presidential candidate after being involved in a sexual harassment scandal.
Of course, the former staffer for Bill Clinton couldn't grasp the irony of hammering someone other than a Democratic president who was involved in a similar scandal.
Judging from the philosophy of the people involved in this project, it might end up being as unwatchable as the “schlockumentaries” produced by liberal activist Michael Moore.
