00:00Joan Lithgow is set to step into the role of former Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes
00:04in Annapurna's forthcoming film about the Rupert Murdoch-owned network.
00:08Lithgow will play the disgraced media mogul in the feature that centers on the women
00:11who took on the infamous toxic male culture of the news network.
00:15The Oscar nominee joins Shalise Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie,
00:19who will play Megyn Kelly, Gretchen Carlson and an associate producer, respectively.
00:23The studio, which is already making a Dick Cheney biopic with director Adam McKay,
00:27is financing and producing the project that was written by the big short screenwriter
00:31Charles Randolph and will be directed by Jay Roach.
00:34Ailes ran Fox News and helped launch the careers of Kelly, Carlson and Sean Hannity
00:38with his powerful channel. He was also a prominent figure in Republican circles
00:42who helped elect Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
00:46Ailes was forced to resign in 2016 when a host of accusations of sexual misconduct
00:51surfaced with Carlson's and Kelly's The Most High Profile and which contributed to his exit
00:56from the network. The still-untitled project is described as an ensemble pic
01:00with other likely characters to include former anchor Greta Van Susteren,
01:03media mogul Rupert Murdoch and fellow fired host Bill O'Reilly.
01:07Luthgau recently received praise for his stint as Winston Churchill on Netflix's
01:11The Crown and his next set for Paramount's Stephen King adaptation Pet Sematary.
01:15To read more on this story, head to THR.com.
01:17For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Lyndsey Rodrigues.
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