That’s Charlize Theron. Look at it again, and tell me how that’s possible. Oscar winner Charlize Theron, playing former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly in Jay Roach’s comedy drama Bombshell. Not Kelly, herself, playing her own role. Theron. Impossible. She looks exactly like Kelly. It’s uncanny. Here’s the rest of the Bombshell trailer, which just dropped.
And Charlize Theron is just the tip of the awards-worthy iceberg, as you can tell by watching the first, tense Bombshell teaser. Centered around the sexual allegations leveled at the late Roger Ailes, Jay Roach’s Bombshell casts Theron as Fox News Channel staple Megyn Kelly, Nicole Kidman as Fox News castoff Gretchen Carlson, and Oscar nominee Margot Robbie as a fictional producer who’ll likely be on the ground floor of the growing scandal.
The Roger Ailes scandal seems ripe for a Hollywood skewering, and the fact that Jay Roach has recruited The Big Short screenwriter Charles Randolph to help him make sense of it all implies that Bombshell will aim to educate as it infuriates. The trailer does very little to explain how deep into the scandal the movie will plunge. This truly is a tease, in that we don’t even get to see John Lithgow as Ailes, but that’s coming. But we won’t have too long to wait, as Bombshell boasts a December 2019 release date.
The release window suggests a strong Oscar play for Lionsgate, who swooped in and snatched the rights to Bombshell after Annapurna walked away from the production days before it began filming, reportedly over budget concerns. Again, the teaser trailer for Bombshell doesn’t give us that much to work with. But Charlize Theron is transformative as Megyn Kelly, while Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie are proven dramatic heavyweights. They, alone, should spark a flame of interest around this movie.
In addition to the three ladies mentioned, Bombshell is lining up a savage roster of acting talent. Lithgow plays Roger Ailes. Alice Eve has been cast as Ainsley Earhardt and Alanna Ubach will play Jeanine Pirro. The supporting cast rounds out with Kate McKinnon, Stephen Root, Connie Britton, Ashley Greene and Allison Janney. The movie will be in theaters on December 20.
