Showtime has announced that Emmy nominated director Kari Skogland (The Handmaid’s Tale) is set to direct the first two episodes of a new limited series about FOX News founder Roger Ailes. Based on Gabriel Sherman’s bestselling book The Loudest Voice in the Room, the series is set to star Russell Crowe (Gladiator) as Ailes.
Skogland has already won a BAFTA award for her work on The Handmaid’s Tale and has worked on other award winning shows like Boardwalk Empire, House of Cards, and The Walking Dead. Skogland is also the only woman in contention this year for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series.
Showtime describes the upcoming series as follows: “In today’s politically charged media landscape, no figure loomed larger, even after his passing, than Roger Ailes, molding Fox News into a force that irrevocably changed the conversation about the highest levels of government. To understand the events that led to the rise of Donald Trump, one must understand Ailes. The upcoming limited series takes on that challenge, focusing primarily on the past decade in which Ailes arguably became the Republican Party’s de facto leader, while flashing back to defining events in Ailes’ life, including an initial meeting with Richard Nixon on the set of The Mike Douglas Show that gave birth to Ailes’ political career and the sexual harassment accusations and settlements that brought his Fox News reign to an end. Told through multiple points of view, the limited series aims to shed light on the psychology that drives the political process from the top down.”
The series will be co-produced by SHOWTIME and Blumhouse Television (Sharp Objects), Oscar winner Tom McCarthy will executive produce with Emmy winner Jason Blum and Alex Metcalf, along with Marci Wiseman and Jeremy Gold for Blumhouse Television.
