Naomi Watts and Russell Crowe to star in Showtime’s Series on Roger Ailes

Naomi Watts and Russell Crowe will star in Showtime’s upcoming eight-episode limited series about Fox News founder Roger Ailes. 

The series is based on extensive reporting by Gabriel Sherman for his bestselling book, “The Loudest Voice in the Room.” Crowe also serves as an executive producer on the series.  

Watts will portray journalist Gretchen Carlson, who rose to prominence over a decade ago at Fox News – from a co-anchor at Fox and Friends to anchoring her own show, The Real Story. As the first woman to file a sexual harassment suit against Ailes which led to her firing, Carlson was pivotal in changing the conversation in the U.S. before the #MeToo movement and in bringing down the previously untouchable media titan.

In today’s politically charged media landscape, no figure looms larger, even after his passing, than Roger Ailes, molding Fox News into a force that irrevocably impacted 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. The series will also touch on 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 will tackle 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. Sherman co-wrote the initial episode of the limited series with Oscar winner Tom McCarthy (Spotlight). For the primary source material, The Loudest Voice in the Room, Sherman interviewed more than 600 people.