Entertainment

This New Trailer Stars Charlize Theron & Nicole Kidman As The Women Who Took Down Roger Ailes

The story of the women who took down Fox News boss Roger Ailes is coming to a big screen near you. The first Bombshell trailer starring Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie teases how three Fox News employees — real-life anchors Megan Kelly, and Gretchen Carlson, along with the fictional Kayla Pospisil—chose to take on toxic masculinity in the workplace.

Bombshell, directed by Jay Roach, will take a closer look at women of Fox News who accused Ailes of sexual harassment. These allegations from the likes of Kelly and Carlson ultimately led Ailes to resign as CEO of Fox News in 2016. (In a statement to People, Ailes’ attorney Susan Estrich denied all allegations: “Mr. Ailes denies her allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct of any kind.”)

"Based on a real scandal," the teaser lets viewers know, "what started with a whisper will end with a bombshell." This tense trailer starts with a nervous-looking Kayla, the fictional associate producer Robbie plays, getting into an elevator with plans to go to the second floor. Soon, Charlize Theron's Megan Kelly gets on the elevator, followed by Gretchen Carlson (Kidman). The doors close and the camera pans to their worried faces. It's hard not feel worried for them.

"It's hot in here," Kidman's Carlson says, the only dialogue in the clip. The pressure builds in the seconds before the doors open on the second floor. Like Kelly, who pauses before exiting the elevator, you feel the anxiety of what's about to happen, the fear and trepidation the real women must have felt at this moment.

Following Showtime's Loudest Voice In The Room, which also covered the Ailes sexual misconduct scandal, Bombshell is focused on the women's struggle to be heard. It's why Theron wanted to be a part of the project. "I think it's an important story," Theron, who is also an executive producer on the film, told Entertainment Tonight last year. "It was written really well, and I think it was the writing, and the filmmaker, that made me realize it was in the right hands."

In the movie, which was previously titled Fair and Balanced, Ailes is played by John Lithgow, but he doesn't show up in this trailer. Not that viewers missed him, since it's another member of the cast that is getting all the attention. Theron is almost unrecognizable as Kelly, as Twitter was quick to point out. "My biggest take away from the Bombshell trailer is that Charlize Theron looks very much like Megyn Kelly," user @TheHeartBroke wrote.

While another user named @rural_juror tweeted, "Charlize Theron looks so much like Megan Kelly in that #Bombshell trailer, that it’s a little unnerving."

Theron's uncanny likeness to the former Fox News anchors had others making big predictions. "Charlize Theron is going to win her second Oscar in 2020 for her role in Bombshell," a fan named @hvthaway wrote.

Someone else thought it was Bombshell's makeup team that deserves all the awards. "This film already getting the makeup Oscar if they made Charlize look like a different woman," @Kayne_Martin wrote.

Bombshell hits theaters on December 20, just in time for Oscar season.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit online.rainn.org.