The sexual harassment scandal which saw Fox News president Roger Ailes step down from the network in 2016 is being turned into a film with a high-profile cast.

Margot Robbie and Nicole Kidman have now joined Charlize Theron in the drama directed by Emmy award-winner Jay Roach.

The sexual harassment scandal at Fox News forced owner Rupert Murdoch to step in as CEO after Ailes resigned amid accusations of unwanted advances toward female producers and anchors at the network.

Though the scandal predated the allegations which surfaced against Harvey Weinstein at the end of 2016, it is seen as one of watershed moments of silenced and abused women speaking out which led to the #MeToo movement.

Digital Spy report that, "Emmy-winning Big Little Lies star Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson and Charlize Theron as fellow former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, who left the network after claiming that she too had faced harassment.

They add, "Robbie will play a fictionalised associate Fox News producer who is an amalgamation of real-life figures who worked with both Carlson and Kelly behind the scenes."

2006 Summer TCA Day 15pinterest
Frederick M. Brown//Getty Images
Ailes in 2006

The film is being produced by Annapurna Pictures, the studio run by Zero Dark Thirty, American Hustle and Phantom Thread producer Megan Ellison.

The working title currently is, Fair and Balanced, the slogan Fox News channel used before dropping it in 2017.

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From: Esquire UK