EDITED BY → SARAH RODMAN @SARAHARODMANTEAMAMERICAFX ON HULU TRAVELS BACK
IN TIME TO DRAMATIZE THE
FIGHT FOR —AND AGAINST—THE
EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT
(ERA) IN THE STAR-STUDDED
LIMITED SERIES MRS. AMERICA
(PREMIERING APRIL 15)By Lynette Rice and
Sarah RodmanPHYLLIS SCHLAFLY
CATE BLANCHETT“Initially, when Phyllis started
out, her passion was [national]
defense,” says the Oscar winner of
the conservative figure who rose
to prominence opposing the Equal
Rights Amendment, and whose
final book supporting Trump was
released a day after she died at 92
in 2016. “She galvanized a group of
women who felt that their way of
life and their, perhaps, more quiet
social ambitions were being left
out of the feminist discourse,” the
actress, 50, says. As an executive
producer as well as a star, “I was
interested in reverse engineering
how we got where we are now,
living in such polarized times.”GLORIA STEINEM
ROSE BYRNEThe Bridesmaids star was
struck by how the cofounder of
Ms. magazine—now 86—was a
“reluctant face of the women’s
movement” and how her beauty
sometimes made it difficult for
her to be taken seriously. “It’s
a double standard that still exists
today,” says Byrne, 40, who
donned a long mane and gold
wire-rimmed glasses and spoke
in a monotone drawl to depict
the famous Steinem. “Why can’t
she be powerful and also be
attractive? I really looked at her
as an example of staying on
point, putting your head down,
and doing the work.”SHIRLEY CHISHOLM
UZO ADUBAThe Orange Is the New Black
actress grew up with a mom who
revered “fighting Shirley Chisholm”—
the first black woman elected
to Congress and the first to run
for the Democratic Party’s
presidential nomination in 1972.
“It’s impossible not to see her
as someone ahead of her time,”
says Aduba, 39, of Chisholm, who
died in 2005 at 80. “The thing that
struck me was how this black
woman ran for the highest office
in the land while standing in the
shadows of the civil rights move-
ment. Martin Luther King had only
died four years prior. President—
how large of a thing is that?”IT MAY BE SET IN THE ’70S, BUT THE SPARK FOR
this fascinating nine-episode drama was of a
more recent vintage: the 2016 election and
the vitriol to which Hillary Clinton was
subjected. Executive producer Stacey Sher was
inspired “to tell the story of the women’s move-
ment from the point of view of the antagonists to
it,” starting with the polarizing Phyllis Schlafly.
But Mrs. America also spotlights the feminists
she battled. Here’s a primer on the major players
and the actresses who portray them.APRIL2020.TV1.LO.A.indd 64 FINAL 3/3/20 11:39 AM