Yahoo Movies Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman virtually unrecognisable as Fox News hosts in first 'Bombshell' trailer
The last time that Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron underwent extreme motion picture makeovers — in 2002’s The Hours and 2003’s Monster, respectively — the results were back-to-back Best Actress Oscar wins.
With that in mind, don’t be surprised if both stars end up competing for the same statue for Bombshell, Jay Roach’s sure-to-be controversial dramatisation of the events surrounding the fall of disgraced Fox News mastermind, Roger Ailes.
The just-released Bombshell trailer reveals how the film refashions Kidman and Theron as two of the network’s most famous on-screen personalities... and it’s quite a dramatic transformation. (Watch the trailer above.)
Coming to U.K. cinemas soon, the film casts Kidman as Gretchen Carlson, whose 2016 sexual harassment lawsuit started turning the wheels that eventually pushed Ailes (played in the film by John Lithgow, who doesn’t appear in the trailer) out the door.
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Theron plays the network’s then-superstar anchor, Megyn Kelly, who sealed her boss’s fate when she added her own voice to the subsequent chorus of women with stories to share about Ailes. Also heavily featured in the trailer is Margot Robbie as a Fox News associate producer, Kayla Pospisil.
Don’t bother Googling that name to see how much she resembles the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star: Pospisil is the invention of screenwriter, Charles Randolph, who co-wrote the 2015 hit, The Big Short, which featured Robbie in a memorable cameo.
Naturally, Twitter is already obsessing over how well Theron models Megyn Kelly’s face and fashions.
Ok but Charlize Theron looks almost exactly like Megyn Kelly in #Bombshell pic.twitter.com/gntrtQxLYa
— Gary Hartley (@GaryHartleySA) August 21, 2019
How is this @CharlizeAfrica?!??! #Bombshell 🤯🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/duMHRGCaCy
— TAPem_n_CAPem (@TAPemTwoTimes) August 21, 2019
Charlize Theron’s transformation is insane. God it looks so good. #exposingfoxnews #Bombshell
— IᔕEᒪᗩ (@iselas25) August 21, 2019
therapist: Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly isn’t real and can’t hurt you
Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly: pic.twitter.com/Vet4ecpnA0— Aviva Drescher: Battle Angel (@TheRyanMacLean) August 21, 2019
Left: Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly. What trickery is this? pic.twitter.com/Zrjs0S7b3L
— Maurice (@followmaurice) August 21, 2019
Kidman’s wig game is also being assessed, to more mixed reactions.
Me. I Am... Nicole Kidman's Wig in the BOMBSHELL Trailer pic.twitter.com/uxMbHCr530
— Evil Sexy Hamlet (@yosoymichael) August 21, 2019
nicole kidman vs bad wigs a saga pic.twitter.com/sKySrXmULd
— spiro (@villianeuve) August 21, 2019
y do they have Nicole Kidman in this wig? https://t.co/aRFlRc9Elp
— Noē The Dino 🦖 (@noethedino) August 21, 2019
Wigs rlly hate Nicole Kidman huh pic.twitter.com/mMuJHpij5V
— joy (@ptandersson) August 21, 2019
In addition to its three leading ladies, Bombshell’s ensemble includes Allison Janney as Ailes’s lawyer Susan Estrich, Spencer Garrett as Sean Hannity and Malcolm McDowell as Fox’s top droog, Rupert Murdoch. No word on who might be playing Bill O’Reilly.
By Ethan Alter, Yahoo Entertainment
Bombshell is coming to U.K. cinemas soon.
