Charlize Theron to play Megyn Kelly in Roger Ailes biopic

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Charlize Theron has played a wide variety of characters over the years, including a serial killer, an evil queen, a secret agent, an animated monkey, and a dreadlock-clad cyber villain. She can do anything! Now she will add Fox News host to the list as she has just been cast as Megyn Kelly in a movie about former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes.

THR got the scoop that Theron will produce the movie on top of playing the former lawyer turned Fox anchor, and who eventually nabbed her own show, THE KELLY FILE. Along with Gretchen Carlson, Kelly was a high-profile figure who spoke out against Ailes when numerous women accused him of sexual assault, leading to his resignation from the network in 2016. Ailes passed away soon after at the age of 77, and Kelly left Fox and jumped over to NBC to host a new show last year.

Jay Roach is set to direct the movie about Ailes with the script being written by Oscar-winner Charles Randolph (THE BIG SHORT) and studio Annapurna financing and producing the movie. Ailes, who spent his career as a prominent Republican figure, turned Fox into the powerhouse it is today and launched the careers of folks like Kelly, Carlson, Sean Hannity, Greta Van Susteren, Bill O’Reilly and more. The movie is said to be an ensemble piece with people soon to be cast as other major Fox players, including Carlson and O'Reilly. Other than that, no title or start/release date has been revealed.

This is not the first film about a Republican figurehead Annapurna is working on. They are also putting together the Dick Cheney biopic from Adam McKay which features Christian Bale in the lead role of Cheney. 

Theron can be seen in TULLY, which proves yet again why she is one of the best actresses around. She will probably nail the role of Kelly in this flick, of which I'm pretty damn excited to see. I love a good ensemble film with a great script, which at the hands of Randolph, we will certainly get. This is fascinating material to work with, and I hope the rest of the cast lineup is as good as Theron. 

Go see Theron in TULLY now!