Russell Crowe will portray Roger Ailes in new series about the rise of Fox News
How did Fox television go from the house The Simpsons built into something resembling Donald Trump's state-run news network?
A newly greenlit Showtime miniseries is set to explore the rise of Fox News, with Russell Crowe taking on the role of Roger Ailes, the network's disgraced former CEO. Ailes died in May 2017, just under a year after he resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment and abuse.
The eight-episode series will be based on The Loudest Voice in the Room, an Ailes biography penned by author Gabriel Sherman and released in 2014. That means the series likely won't be covering the end of Ailes reign at Fox News, since it was published two years before he was ousted.
Tom McCarthy (Spotlight) and Jason Blum (Get Out) will serve as executive producers. Showtime's official synopsis for the series can be found below (h/t Entertainment Weekly):
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.
It's worth noting that while Sherman's book received critical praise, it didn't include any cooperation from the former Fox News chief. That's likely why the synopsis makes a point of noting that the story will be "told through multiple points of view."
It's still early days for this admittedly timely miniseries, so there's no premiere date or even any casting info beyond Crowe. Expect more announcements soon.
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
