She resists. From a bond as close as any sibling to silenceis their relationship repairable? Whos Going to the Met Gala Dressed as Karl Lagerfelds Cat? Kayla is one of three women at Bombshells center; the other two are Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron) and Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman). The movies anecdote from a makeup artist at the network who helped primp female employees on their way to see RogerOne of them came back down after a meeting, and the makeup on her nose and chin was gonealso comes directly from reporting of the scandal. Photo illustration by Slate. Visit our corporate site. This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, Sam and Joel reach a new level of intimacy. You know that this is very important to this experience that the audience goes through it being as gut-wrenching as it was., Theron personally enlisted Roach for the job, after he provided the Oscar-winning actress a detailed critique of an early version of the Bombshell script (which was initially set up at Megan Ellisons Annapurna Pictures). She also launched and managed the sites virtual book club, #ReadWithMC. Kayla Pospisil is a fictional person created solely for the film but does reflect the specific experiences of victims. This piece takes what we know about Ailes from "Bombshell" and expands on it, giving us further understanding of what it was like for these women to work under Ailes and experience his manipulative and abusive behavioral streak. It is, like the cable-news network that is its subject and its setting, shiny and hectic. Both Kayla and Jess are compositescharacters meant to tell the stories of women who could not speak for themselves. All rights reserved. Kelly may be the star of the show; Kayla, however, is its moral center. Chloe is a News Writer for Townandcountrymag.com, where she covers royal news, from the latest additions to Meghan Markles staff to Queen Elizabeths monochrome fashions; she also writes about culture, often dissecting TV shows like The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and Killing Eve. The filmits pun of a title offers a hint at whats to comehas a kaleidoscopic quality. This week, Tom and Shiv get it on. Rattled, she later relays the incident to Roger, wondering aloud whether it was nerves or if the man tampered with her drink. She makes few demands, of her screenwriters or of her audience. So to capture these situations, it takes both genders to think through how these things work. Is Kayla Pospisil real? Roger Ailes, the longtime Fox News leader who was ousted in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal, is played by John Lithgow. The film was directed by Jay Roach ("Trumbo") and written by Charles Randolph ("The Big Short"), who breaks down what's fact, fiction and somewhere in between. Nor was a secret lesbian tryst between an Ailes victim and a veteran producer. Bombshell is a fine enough film its competently made, the performances are terrific, and it is sufficiently crazymaking but there are two phenomenal scenes in the film that make it well worth seeing. Some of them were still working at Fox. Privacy Policy and Perhaps one of the most infamous moments in the film arrives when Megyn Kelly isquestioning then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2015 on Fox News. (Image credit: Lionsgate - Hilary B Gayle), The Ultimate Guide to Stylish PJs for Moms: Heres What to Buy and Gift This Mothers Day, Examining the Lengthy Fallout Between the Once Close Prince Harry and Kate Middleton, Three Mishaps You May Have Missed from Prince William and Kate Middletons Royal Wedding on This Day in 2011, The 'Barbie' Movie Poster Is Already This Year's Most Iconic Meme, Documentaries About Black History to Educate Yourself With, The 56 Best Musical Movies of All Time: Iconic Movie Musicals, 'Princess Diaries 3' Is Happening, And I Absolutely Won't "Shut Up" About It, 90 Halloween Costume Ideas Inspired By Movies and TV Shows, Megyn Kelly's Most Controversial Moments Ever, Margot Robbie Wore Sharon Tate's Jewelry in 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'. Her other panelists labeled her as a support system during the tumultuous time in real life. Most recently, she was the Managing Editor at Coveteur, where she oversaw the sites day-to-day editorial operations. As the movie illustrates, Trumps presidential candidacy proved to be a point of contention for Rupert Murdoch and Ailes. My television career combusted, and I couldn't get a job for over a year come after me. We hear his breathing grow increasingly, discomfitingly labored. " She is real to me but in this particular case she is an amalgamation of a number of women's stories and she's even more real because of that, " Robbie said. A character named Kayla Pospisil (played by Oscar nominee Margot Robbie) is called before Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes (John Lithgow beneath layers of prosthetic jowl and wattle), who has ostensibly agreed to meet with the young segment producer to discuss her promotion from off-camera apparatchik to on-air talent Anchor Barbie as a co-worker (SNLs Kate McKinnon) calls it. For Bombshell, a trio of A-listersNicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, and Margot Robbiewere Fox-ified. Kayla, though, suggests the limitations of the simulacrum. The camera lingers on Kayla, near tears, as he ordersher to inch it higher and higher, revealing her underwear. Photo illustration by Slate. She pulls up the hem of her dress. And the lead women weren't the only actors who spent hours in the makeup chair. When it came time to go, Ailes did agree to a noncompete clause, and indeed didnt get his wish to say goodbye and address the newsroom along with Rupert Murdoch, who did that on his own, locking Ailes out unceremoniously. Post-twirl, Ailes tells Robbies character to hike up her minidress higher and higher. I wanted the breathing to be unmistakably monstrous.. And then he gives her an order: Stand up and twirl for me.. In the panel with Megyn Kelly, Juliet Huddy commentedthat the film"did a good job trying to give a realistic portrayal of what it's like." The most creative liberties were taken with Margot Robbie's Kayla Pospisil and Kate McKinnon's Jess Carr. Former Fox News anchor Juliet Huddy allegedly met with "Bombshell" screenwriter Charles Randolph to consult on the film in her own words and to share her own experience with Fox News. Kayla, without realizing it, has walked into a battle for her dignity. Rachel Epstein is a writer, editor, and content strategist based in New York City. Get to know who's who in the cast before you watch the movie in theaters. NY 10036. She and another fictional character, a production assistant named Jess Carr (Kate McKinnon), drink too much after work and end up spending the night together. Kelly then comes forward with her own case of harassment, followed by more than 20 other women (via Vulture). Gretchen Carlson, and Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson. Bombshell is rendered in the style of Vice and The Big Short (its screenwriter, Charles Randolph, also wrote the screenplay for the latter). Later in the film, it's revealed that she was asked to give sexual favors to Ailes. In an effort to get Kayla to open up, Kelly admits to Kayla that she was harassed by Roger, too. There isn't an Oscars category for casting directors, but whoever was in charge of assembling the cast of Bombshell deserves some type of award. However, as with any film rooted in reality, directors and writers are able to take creative liberties for the benefit of the story and take them they do. Along with Esquire, his work has appeared in NYLON, Vulture, and USA Today. The rest is pulled from Randolph's evangelical upbringing. In an article from The Guardian, however, a Fox News spokesperson said, "No edict exists on what women are required to wear." He would have good advice, and women would come into his office and feel very comfortable at first. Rupert Murdoch, the media magnate at the helm of a global empire, is played by veteran actor Malcolm McDowell. Following her confrontation with Wilson, she rejoined Fox News on "Fox and Friends." Heres how to watch them host the events red carpet, together with Derek Blasberg and Emma Chamberlain. The dried-out husk of Kendalls soul is up, Roman is spiraling down, and the game of. Throughout the film, Kayla must grapple with the fact that a man with a lot of power, a person whos the driving force behind a corporation she idolizes, sexually assaulted her. What are you, crazy?' Ultimately, though, this wasn't true. The Murdoch brothers, and Josh and Ben Lawson as James and Lachlan Murdoch. Slate is published by The Slate It had to be dark enough that we could put men who normally would not have these experiences inside Kaylas heart and head, so they could experience it with her. Many of them embody familiar Fox News talents. Margot Robbie's Fictional Bombshell Character Is Based on 20 Real Fox News Staffers, The Best, Craziest, Weirdest Moments From Cannes, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. But she does as shes asked. Gretchen Carlson was not able to break her NDA, nor was Megyn Kelly. When Robbie's Kayla begins a new on-air role, she arrives at her desk with pageant queen hair, garish stage makeup, and a black-and-white bodycon dress. 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 divorcethey are said to have broken up and moved out of his childhood home while he was away at collegeare real: That one appears in Gabriel Shermans book. However, what the film misses is just how far this hatred went during their working relationship. It is primary-colored and stylized and dizzying. Some of them really didnt want their names out there.". Ailes was more deferential of Trump than Rupert initially was, and this may have worked to the sons advantage in eventually pushing for Ailes ouster. The film does an excellent job at chronicling the way Gretchen Carlson took full control of the situation by filing a lawsuit against Ailes after an extended period of inappropriate behavior at Fox News. Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie star in the drama "Bombshell," about the women who took down Fox News' Roger Ailes. Pospisil begins to tell Carr about what happened, but Carr interrupts, saying she cannot get involved. There is a quiet rage simmering throughout A Thousand And One, threatening to spill out onto the changing streets of Harlem, from the, If you were expecting to escape the Oscars with dry eyes, were sorry to say that you definitely didnt make it out unscathed. Charlize Theron plays Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly in Bombshell, and the movie opens as she is preparing to host a 2015 Republican presidential primary debate that would go on to cause a monthslong feud between her and future President Donald Trump. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. This is telling, from an ABC News piece in November 2016: I now know the number of women who were targeted, and its disturbing, she said. After gaining a meeting with Ailes, Pospisil is sexually harassed and asked to pull her dress up beyond her waist. An article in Vogue explored this rule: "The Fox dress code for women? Malcolm McDowell plays mogul and longtime Ailes enabler Rupert Murdoch in the movie, and his sons, James and Lachlan, are portrayed by real-life Aussie brothers Josh and Ben Lawson, respectively. This is not something the film necessarily got wrong, but more an extension of Ailes' ability to control his employees. Margot Robbie's character is an amalgamation of the many women that came out with allegations against Roger Ailes. You know, the one when Lizzie and Miranda attempt to purchase their first bras by lying about needing sc, In 2020, an old theory resurfaced on the internet hypothesizing that world famous composer Ludwig van Beethoven may have actually been Black, sparking cont, Rarely do I watch a movie that leaves me truly perplexed. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. He indeed occupied a second-floor suite at the News Corp. headquarters in New York City with a camera outside his door. When Pospisil moves on to a new job on Bill OReillys show, she befriends Jess Carr, a producer played by Kate McKinnon. This woman's career was controlled by Ailes and she had no way of stopping it. The case against Ailes snowballed shortly after . As IndieWire notes, Charlize Theron alluded during anEllen DeGeneres Showappearance to Kayla being an amalgamation of real stories: "We used a lot of source material in finding the story and also spoke to a lot of women who were part of the story. Sure. Margot Robbie's character, a young and ambitious associate producer named Kayla Pospisil, is a composite character based on the stories of dozens of real women. In short, Kayla Pospisil isn't based on a singular woman, but rather the accounts of several sexual assault victims. ", 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. Ill say this much, though. Bombshell portrays him as a complex character: a Machiavellian, tantrum-prone blob with a quiet but pronounced paternal streak that he could weaponize to sexually exploit female employees. This content is imported from youTube. During the discussion, Kelly went on to say that she found the scene to be counterproductive in regards to the #MeToo movement overall, hinting that it was inaccurate about the women's relationship because a man wrote it. If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. But realistically, that would have been a suicide mission for me and my career.. Bill Shine, a former Fox News producer and executive who eventually became Trumps communications director, is played by Desperate Housewives Mark Moses. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Obviously, the blonde hair and characterization lends the character to an obvious comparison to internet-star-turned-conservative pundit, Tomi Lahren. A timeline of Justin Bieber, Hailey Bieber, and Selena Gomezs love triangle. Shes beautiful, devout (to God. While you're still processing that Pospisil is fake, allow us to take a moment of appreciation for how much Theron and Kidman look like Kelly and Carlsonthe former Fox News anchors who actually helped take down Ailes IRL. Photo illustration by Slate. Similarly, Is Kayla supposed to be Tomi Lahren? Photo illustration by Slate. Ashley Greene (Twilight) makes an appearance as Abby Huntsman, a former Fox & Friends co-host who moved on to The View. Knowing that he has the power to make her career in journalismless aware, at the time, that he also has the power to break itKayla sits on Ailess couch, thrilled. Left to right, Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly, Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson and Margot Robbie as Kayla Pospisil in "Bombshell." (Courtesy Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/SMPSP) This article is more than . Many films like "Bombshell" are heavily embellished to assist the transition from just education to entertainment. (That should explain the "Team Roger" T-shirt in her onscreen portrayal.). It is to have a tale told by a narrator who is, if not fully unreliable, then deeply fraught. Photos by Hilary Bronwyn Gayle SMPSP/Lionsgate and Andrew Toth/Getty Images. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. But Bombshell is primarily Kellys story. But it might have been more revealing. The short answer is no one person. A scene with Kayla and Megyn displays a case of victim shaming from Kayla with her placing the blame on Megyn for her own assault because she did not speak out. The scene between Kayla and Ailes is what roots the film as it explores the legal battle that led to Ailess ouster from the network. ", The film shows a competitive work environment at Fox News for female anchors and producers, many of whom rarely spoke or befriended each other.
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