Following the success of their previous limited series adaptation, Patrick Melrose, Showtime is doubling down with another, this time based on the bestselling book The Loudest Voice in the Room starring Russell Crowe as Fox News founder Roger Ailes.
Based on the Gabriel Sherman book, the eight-episode series is set around Ailes and will focus on the last decade of his life, while also flashing back to key moments in his career, including his meeting with Richard Nixon on The Mike Douglas Show that both put him on the political path he became known for, as well as the sexual harassment accusations that would lead to his downfall.
“In many ways, the collision between the media and politics has come to define the world we live in today,” David Nevins, President and CEO of Showtime Networks, said. “We’ve seen this phenomenon depicted on screen as far back as the story of Charles Foster Kane, and it finds contemporary embodiment in the rise and fall of Roger Ailes. With Russell Crowe in the lead role, this limited series promises to be a defining story for this era.”
The series will be told through multiple viewpoints and aims to shed light on the psychology of Ailes and how the political process influenced him so much in his career. produced by Spotlight‘s Tom McCarthy and Jason Blum, the first episode was co-written by McCarthy and Sherman, who conducted over 600 reviews for his book.
Showtime’s limited series is not the only Ailes-centric project in the works as Annapurna is developing their own feature film on him. Director Jay Roach (Game Change) is set to direct the film which includes Charlize Theron as former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.
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