Stan miniseries The Loudest Voice follows the gripping story of Fox News CEO Roger Ailes’ take down by a group of women armed with a multitude of sexual harassment allegations.
The seven-part dramatic miniseries provides a glimpse into the news outlet which moulded public opinion and politics in America, and its news titan CEO, whose sexual misconduct against Gretchen Carlson launched a $20 million suit against the network and in many ways kick-started the #MeToo movement.
It is undoubtedly uncomfortable to watch – but that’s the point.
Watch The Loudest Voice trailer below. Post continues after video.
Not only is The Loudest Voice a fascinating and eye-opening watch, it boasts a cast of some of the biggest names in Hollywood who have been eerily transformed thanks to hours of makeup and prosthetic work to look exactly like their real-life counterparts.
The results leave them completely unrecognisable.
Here are the actors who portray the key players involved with the take down of Roger Ailes, including the man himself.
Roger Ailes – Russell Crowe
Roger Ailes was the founding CEO of Fox News, holding the job from 1996 until his resignation in 2016, when he resigned amid several sexual harassment allegations.
Throughout his 20 years in the role, Ailes led the conservative news station through many landmark moments, many of which are documented in The Loudest Voice. Episode 2 follows September 11, and episode 3 takes place during the 2008 Presidential Election.
In the series the Ailes depicted by Crowe is openly racist and sexist. He tells a former BBC presenter, who is of Indian descent, that she speaks very good English, insists Fox News presenters always refer to Obama as "Barack Hussein Obama" and grabs at women's bodies.
In 2014, American author Gabriel Sherman wrote The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News – and Divided a Country. In it, he alleged that Ailes had offered a television producer a raise if she slept with him. He, and Fox News, denied the allegations and rejected Sherman's book.
But in 2016, led by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson's sexual harassment claim, women began to come forward with their stories about how Ailes had made unwanted advances of a sexual nature towards them, telling them it would help further their careers.
Ten days after Carlson's lawsuit, New York magazine reported that an internal review into her claims had expanded into a broader review of Ailes' leadership.
It reported the Murdochs had given Ailes an ultimatum – either he must resign or be fired.
On July 21, 2016, Ailes resigned from Fox News. He received a $40 million sum as part of his exit agreement. He was thanked for his contribution to the network, without mention of the harassment allegations and went on to become an adviser to the Donald Trump campaign.
On May 18, 2017, Ailes died aged 77 due to a subdural hematoma, aggravated by his hemophilia.
Elizabeth Ailes – Sienna Miller
Elizabeth and Rogers Ailes married on Valentine's Day in 1998. They had met while working together at CNBC and she was his third wife.
Together they had one son, when Ailes was 59.
After the harassment allegations surfaced, Elizabeth stuck by her husband.
When journalist Megyn Kelly came forward with her allegations, New York magazine reported that Elizabeth wanted Fox News' PR department to resurface racy photos of Kelly from GQ Magazine in an attempt to "discredit" her. The PR department refused.
The magazine also reported that Elizabeth had been considering divorce but they remained married until Ailes' death.
Since his death, Elizabeth has largely remained out of the spotlight, though she still occasionally tweets and shares old images of her husband.
Elizabeth reportedly wanted nothing to do with the miniseries.
Gretchen Carlson – Naomi Watts
When Gretchen Carlson – considered the pioneer of the #MeToo movement – filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Ailes, she opened up a can of worms that led to many other women coming forward with disturbing allegations against him, including former Fox staffer Laurie Luhn, who said he sexually harassed her for 20 years.
Other women claimed to have been demoted and taken off air when they rebuffed Ailes allegations.
Carlson alleged herself that she was terminated from the network because she refused Ailes’ sexual advances and questioned gender-based inequities at the network. She also alleged that her former co-host, Steve Doocey, had treated her in a sexist and condescending way.
The former Miss America (a title she is referred by repeatedly by Ailes in the miniseries) is played by Naomi Watts. She spent 11 years as an anchor, host, and interviewer for Fox.
Carlson settled with Fox News for $20 million not long after filing her suit, and now hosts documentaries for Lifetime and A&E and runs a nonprofit focused on empowering women.
Brian Lewis – Seth MacFarlane
Brian Lewis was formerly the vice president of Fox News until his 2013 firing. Lewis, 58, was hired by Roger Ailes in 1996, the year the network was founded. At the time, he was described as "a brash young executive".
Lewis had been considered as Ailes’ right-hand man during his time at Fox. He embraced Ailes' conservative vision for the network, and used PR as an engine to further Roger’s every demand.
He left the network under a cloud in 2013 following allegations of financial irregularities.
In The Loudest Voice, Brian Lewis is played by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.
Laurie Luhn – Annabelle Wallis
Luhn, played by Anabelle Wallis in the miniseries, worked as a bookings agent at Fox, eventually climbing the ranks to bookings director.
She told New York Magazine's Gabriel Sherman, who wrote Ailes' biography The Loudest Voice, that she was "psychologically tortured" by Ailes for over two decades.
As documented in The Loudest Voice, their relationship was ruled by Ailes' manipulation – intertwining sexual favours with professional perks. They regularly met in hotels, where Luhn would dance for and perform oral sex on Ailes.
During these encounters, according to Luhn, Ailes would hold her temples and say, “Tell me you will do what I tell you to do, when I tell you to do it. At any time, at any place when I call. No matter where I call you, no matter where you are. Do you understand? You will follow orders," she told ABC 20/20 in 2016.
Rupert Murdoch – Simon McBurney
In the miniseries, Australian-born media giant Rupert Murdoch is played by Simon McBurney.
Murdoch founded News Corp in 1980. At the time of its split in 2013, it was the world's fourth-largest media group.
Following Ailes resignation, Murdoch became acting CEO of Fox News.
The Loudest Voice is now streaming on Stan.