Sienna Miller Says Playing Roger Ailes' Wife On 'The Loudest Voice' Was 'Liberating'
Showtime's The Loudest Voice and its star-studded cast has garnered a lot of attention for its portrayal of Roger Ailes and Fox News.
Naomi Watts plays Gretchen Carlson, and the two women look so similar it's hard to tell them apart.
Not all cast members started out as mirror images of their real-life counterparts, some added major prosthetics and totally transformed themselves.
Based on the best-selling biography of Roger Ailes, the Showtime miniseries The Loudest Voice shares a slice of his life story with special attention to his downfall. Roger and the surrounding characters are central to the transformative tale, and the star-studded cast (hello, Oscar winners) is certainly up to telling it.
And, they are committed. Tbh, the main stars of the series don't seem like they quite match their real-life counterparts. But thanks to a little extra time (or...several hours) in the makeup chair, the actors on The Loudest Voice underwent total transformations.
Take a look to see the side-by-side comparisons of what the characters in Showtime's miniseries look like versus the real-life people they play.
Russell Crowe as Roger Ailes
Russell certainly doesn't lack range as an actor, with notable roles in Les Miserables, Gladiator, and A Beautiful Mind to name a few. For his turn as the media magnate, he totally transformed himself and became completely unrecognizable. That is, unless you're looking for Roger. Then, you'll have no trouble making the connection. In fact, he told Stephen Colbert on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert that it would as long as six hours to apply all the prosthetics and prepare for filming.
Here's what Russell looks like as Roger Ailes:
Sienna Miller as Elizabeth Ailes
Sienna has plenty of experience bringing real people to life on screen. In the past, she played Navy S.E.A.L. Chris Kyle's wife Taya in American Sniper and Edie Sedgwick in Factory Girl. No previous role has been quite so physically transformative, though.
Here, she portrays Roger's wife Elizabeth (Beth). The couple met working at CNBC and were married for 20 years before Roger's death. Beth famously stood by his side throughout the sexual harassment allegations. For Sienna's turn as Roger's wife Beth, she also donned facial prosthetics and the result is downright freaky. "But the prosthetics did make me brave, without self-consciousness because I was masked. I disappeared," she told New York Magazine. "I loved it," she added. "To look at yourself and not see yourself was really liberating."
Here's what Sienna Miller looks like as Elizabeth Ailes:
Naomi Watts as Gretchen Carlson
All it took was a bit of makeup and wardrobe for the Oscar winner to look the part of broadcast journalist and former Miss America. Naomi told The Hollywood Reporter she watched episodes from Gretchen's shows and her Miss America tapes, and read her books to prepare for the role. "It’s quite liberating as an actor to play that kind of role. It feels really juicy and vindicating as well," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "And again, it speaks to what we're going through currently. I mean, she really was the first." (Gretchen kickstarted the conversation about workplace harassment more than a year before the #MeToo movement took off.)
Here's what Naomi looks like as Gretchen Carlson:
Simon McBurney as Rupert Murdoch
Simon has extensive theater credits to his name. One of his most notable has to be as Kreacher the house elf in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
The English actor, too, has incredible range. With the addition of a few facial prosthetics, Simon matches the NewsCorp founder to a T. From house elf to media mogul within a few years, not too shabby.
Here's what Simon looks like playing Rupert Murdoch on the show:
Patch Darragh as Sean Hannity
While Patch has had smaller parts on a variety of television shows over the years, his name might not ring a bell. This role in The Loudest Voice is one of his more notable, and he is an excellent match to the Fox News talkshow host and conservative political commentator.
It's hard to deny it, there is an uncanny resemblance between the two. Sean has been with Fox News since the very beginning as cohost of Hannity & Colmes and followed by his solos show Hannity.
Here's what Patch looks like as Sean Hannity:
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