‘The Loudest Voice’: Josh Charles To Recur In Showtime’s Roger Ailes Limited Series
EXCLUSIVE: The Good Wife alum Josh Charles is set for a recurring role opposite Naomi Watts in The Loudest Voice, Showtime’s upcoming limited series about Fox News founder Roger Ailes, played by Russell Crowe.
A Blumhouse Television and Showtime co-production, The Loudest Voice (fka Secure and Hold: The Last Days of Roger Ailes) is based on Gabriel Sherman’s bestselling book The Loudest Voice in the Room and his extensive reporting for New York magazine about the sordid allegations of sexual harassment that prompted the late Ailes’ ouster at Fox News. Sherman co-wrote the first episode with Spotlight scribe Tom McCarthy, who executive produces with Jason Blum. Production is currently underway in New York City.
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Charles will play Casey Close, husband of former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson (Watts) and a well-known sports agent, who tries to comfort his rattled wife and reassure her that her situation at Fox isn’t as bad as she thinks.
It was Ailes who molded Fox News into a force that irrevocably changed the conversation about the highest levels of government. The seven-episode series focuses 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, which gave birth to Ailes’ political career, and the sexual harassment accusations and settlements that brought his Fox News reign to an end. Told through multiple points of view, the limited series aims to shed light on the psychology that drives the political process from the top down.
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In addition to Crowe and Watts, the cast includes Sienna Miller (Layer Cake) as Ailes’ wife Elizabeth, Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) as former Fox News PR chief Brian Lewis, Simon McBurney (The Theory of Everything) as News Corp leader Rupert Murdoch, Annabelle Wallis (Peaky Blinders) as former Fox News booker Laurie Luhn and Aleska Palladino (Boardwalk Empire) as Ailes’ longtime assistant Judy Laterza. In addition, Joe Cortese (Green Book) will guest star as Roger Stone.
Kari Skogland (The Handmaid’s Tale) will direct the first two episodes.
Charles starred for five seasons as Will Gardner on CBS’ The Good Wife, a role which earned him Emmy, Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice award nominations. He recurred on Showtime’s Masters of Sex and Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, starred in both of the internet network’s Wet Hot American Summer limited series and appeared on Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer, NBC’s Law & Order: True Crime and Comedy Central’s Drunk History. On stage, Charles most recently co-starred on Broadway in Straight White Men and the world premiere of The Antipodes. Charles next will seen on the big screen in Framing John DeLorean.
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