Bombshell (2019)

Bombshell is a somewhat loose recounting of the toxic, cultish, and highly sexist atmosphere that permeated Fox News under the tenure of their CEO, Roger Ailes. Most of the events that take place in the film occur in 2016, during the middle of the presidential race that would culminate in Donald Trump’s election. It’s in this period that fading Fox star Gretchen Carlson would find herself on the outs. She would file an explosive sexual harassment charge against Ailes, who was considered the most influential man in news, a moniker that only fed into his narcissistic notions of being special and above standard rules. Fox News gave many women breaks, but many of them were objectified, wanting them to show off a certain sex appeal to deliver the news to their viewers. Margot Robbie co-stars as a composite character based on several of Ailes’ two dozen other accusers, Kayla, who is young, ambitious, Christian, and a firm believer in the Fox News mission. Also, she is beautiful enough to catch Ailes’ eye, offering her a fast-pass to success if he can get something from the relationship in return in terms of sex, power exchange, the gratification of his ego, and unquestioning loyalty.

Although set in New York, much of the action shot in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times building substitutes for News Corp., primarily because Fex News would not let the filmmakers come by to shoot in or around their premises. Meticulous research recreated the interiors of the offices, with some sets based on sneaky photographs from people they had surreptitiously film on the inside. The reason a closeness to authenticity is needed is that much of the power of Bombshell comes through having us feel like we are there in the room with the characters undergoing certain feelings and tasked with particular demands of them we might not get otherwise. One of the main reasons that many men within a company tend to not side with women who assert sexual harassment is because it has never happened to them, and they have not witnessed it happening. Bombshell takes us into the world of the female employee at Fox News and shows the constant feeling of harassment and objectification they must deal with on a day-to-day basis to feel secure and have a chance to advance.

The notion of making a film would come shortly after Ailes’ death in 2017, with Annapurna Pictures taking control of helping it proceed forward. Charles Randolph was hired to come up with a script due to his prior work, especially in co-writing The Big Short.  The working title for the film at this time was Fair and Balanced, referring to Fox News’ one-time famous slogan. It changed to Bombshell since the news story was a bombshell revelation delivered by women at Fox, who are often hired because of their looks, making them also ‘bombshells’ of a sort. Jay Roach was attached to direct in 2018 after being approached by Charlize Theron to take control of the film based on his experience with acclaimed political dramas like Game Change, Recount, and All the Way. Theron also took on a producer role at the behest of Roach, who thought a woman would be involved in the decision making in a sexual harassment film written and directed by men. Not long afterward, a significant roadblock would emerge when Annapurna Pictures dropped out of making the film two weeks before shooting scheduled to begin. With so many actors in a small window for the shoot, this ended up with the producers to scramble to see if they could find a studio willing to pick it up the financing to see it to completion. Several passed on it until Theron pulled some strings with those she had worked with in the past, namely BRON Studios, who signed on two days later, and Lionsgate stepping in to take on distribution.

Although the film starts by breaking the fourth wall, a la The Big Short, Bombshell doesn’t stay in snarky mode throughout. Roach picks his spots as to when he thinks things should be stylized; he sticks with using classic techniques like montage and music to accentuate the tone and tempo rather than try to go for meta moments to engage directly with the audience in an inauthentic way.  Although Ailes’ story of narcissism and how he corrupts those who come close to his orbit of power will also be said to be an indictment against Donald Trump, the film doesn’t go full bore in this direction. Trump does factor into the story due to his relationship with Ailes and the channel, as well as Kelly’s struggles at Fox coming directly from challenging Trump at one of the televised debates due to his degrading comments about women. After the debate, Trump did come after Kelly for it on Twitter, calling her a “bimbo” and a “lightweight.” In a CNN interview, Trump also made a vague and indirect reference to her possibly menstruating (“You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”) as part of the reason why she seems angry with him. With known public figures, Roach and Randolph decide to take an approach of depicting events as they happened, or would likely have occurred behind the scenes given what we know, rather than try to shape the narrative artificially to drive home their main themes.

Bombshell was filmed in about 5 1/2 weeks, requiring about 230 scenes and around a hundred speaking parts, some of which had to be winnowed out to get the film down to its economic 108 minutes run time. Nevertheless, Jay Roach does slow down the film, adding some silence into the world of fast-paced news, at appropriate times to let us feel the weight when it calls for it, such as a tense scene between Kayla and Roger Ailes in which he becomes insistent that she reveals more of her legs. Roach doesn’t let us off the hook during this scene, though he does much worse that we don’t see, which only furthers the disturbing nature of it given how revolting we find just on how he crosses the line. The level of discomfort during the scenes of sexual harassment and the bewildering vantage point of the non-supportive environment in the workplace is as palpable as I’ve seen in a film form.

Adding 2.5 hours of additional makeup chair time to start every day, Charlize Theron suggested the use of prosthetics and makeup to make her look more like Megyn Kelly, despite resembling her quite a bit and adopting her accent and demeanor. She thought it would help her to disappear into the character if she looked in the mirror and saw Kelly there instead of herself, especially with her distinctive nose and cheekbones. For the film, they worked with twice-retired make-up artist Kazu Hiro, who won an Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling in 2018 for his phenomenal work on Darkest Hour.  Lithgow didn’t want prosthetics, feeling the opposite way, thinking they would get in the way of an excellent performance. However, once he saw that he would look wholly different without changing the way that he might express himself facially, he was sold on the idea. Lithgow would end up proudly wearing a lightweight fat suit by four-time Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood. To the women alone with him, Ailes is a monster, but that side of him is not shown to every woman, to whom he can be generous, benevolent, and a hero in their corner. Even Megyn Kelly appreciated him as an ally at times, though she was leary of his monstrous advancements that made her acutely aware of who she was dealing with at all times.

As in many companies where sexual predators make decisions, women don’t view each other as friends so much as the competition. They are rivals for promotions and feel even more compelled to give in to the demands of those who are harassing them, knowing that if they do not, others will and will get the job they deserve. A film like Bombshell could prove resonant for women currently working under such conditions to learn to band together instead of suffering alone. It might also cause some companies to clean house. If not, they might end up paying millions, not only to victims but to disgraced CEOs and other bigwigs they have to force to leave for their violations that harm their brand. Part of the crossover appeal will likely come from the fact that Kelly, Carlson, and other women improperly treated are not feminists or liberal. The demographics of white women picked Trump to be the president over a white woman, despite all of his reported womanizing. Yet, they experienced treatment toward them that they consider being wrong. A man like Ailes only viewed women’s place in his company as far as how their sex appeal would translate to ratings, wearing revealing skirt lines, hair, and makeup to be always applied, and bodies to be shapely.  No surprise that his eye toward viewing his female staff as sexually desirable would also mean he looked at them that way when they were not on their television cameras, where he found high power in getting them to show even more, just for him.

The women who are contemplating whether to come forward with harassment allegations look at their daughters, as though they must determine whether perpetuating the toxicity of sexist work environments is worth the loss of career in the here and now to help make it a better future for the world of tomorrow. It’s that choice of throwing away one’s career, reputation, and lots of money is worth doing what’s right in denying someone favors, sexual or otherwise, something that is very much in the headlines today, from Washington DC to nearly every major corporation.  Bombshell succeeds as a compelling look into the oppressive environment that women have to deal with in the workplace in a way that few films have. That’s what leaves the most lasting impression. There may be certain scenes that are uneven, some story angles that seem unfocused or unnecessary. Even if the tone may not be consistent all the way through, Bombshell remains a compelling and thought-provoking work, full of unquestionably strong performances. The talented troupe of actors who remarkably put a human face and deeper emotional resonance to the reports that we often only just read about happening in the news.

Qwipster’s rating: A-

MPAA Rated: R for sexual material and language throughout
Running Time: 108 min.

Cast: Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, John Lithgow, Kate McKinnon, Mark Duplass, Connie Britton, Allison Janney, Malcolm McDowell, Alice Eve, Alanna Ubach
Small role: Rob Delaney, Jennifer Morrison, Tricia Helfer, Stephen Root, Richard Kind
Director: Jay Roach
Screenplay: Charles Randolph