“Ask yourself, ‘What would scare my grandmother and piss off my grandfather?’ That’s a Fox story,”
says Kate McKinnon’s character in Bombshell. The sordid, real-life Fox News/Roger Ailes/Donald
Trump love-in ticks both these boxes, but it also gave rise to something brilliant: Charlize Theron as
Fox anchor Megyn Kelly. Ailes, the late chairman of the network and a major figure in Trump’s 2016
campaign, was fired after it emerged he had harassed women, including Kelly, over a 40-year career.
Bombshell followed the fallout and Theron, as Kelly, carries the whole thing, steely and unfazed as she
sues when she’s fired on a pretext after reporting Ailes’ assaults, earning her Bafta, SAG, Oscar and
Golden Globe nods; to follow up, she’s slated to shoot Cold War comic book sequel Atomic Blonde 2
this year. The political manoeuvres and backstabbing of late-Soviet Berlin will seem weirdly familiar...The BombCharlize Theron
Nominated for Best Actress
Film Bombshell
Charlize wears Dior Haute Couture
and Tiffany & Co04-20BAFTAs_3418656.indd 175 13/02/2020 11:39
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