Showtime has ordered a limited series based on the book The Loudest Voice in the Room, about Fox News Channel founder Roger Ailes.
Russell Crowe will play Ailes in the eight-episode series.
Gabriel Sherman wrote The Loudest Voice in the Room. He co-wrote the initial episode with Tom McCarthy (Spotlight), who will executive produce with Jason Blum. The project is a co-production from Showtime and Blumhouse Television.
“In many ways, the collision between the media and politics has come to define the world we live in today,” said David Nevins, president and CEO, Showtime Networks Inc. “We’ve seen this phenomenon depicted on screen as far back as the story of Charles Foster Kane, and it finds contemporary embodiment in the rise and fall of Roger Ailes. With Russell Crowe in the lead role, this limited series promises to be a defining story for this era.”
Ailes died in 2017.
“To understand the events that led to the rise of Donald Trump, one must understand Ailes," Showtime said. "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.”
Related: Fox News Channel, Ailes, Shine Named in New Sexual Harassment Lawsuit
Sherman interviewed more than 600 people for his book.
The TV project is executive produced by McCarthy, Blum and Alex Metcalf, along with Marci Wiseman and Jeremy Gold for Blumhouse Television, which originally optioned the rights to Sherman’s book and brought the project to Showtime.
Crowe’s film work includes Gladiator, The Insider, L.A. Confidential and Cinderella Man.
