By Ben Pearson/Oct. 9, 2018 11:14 am EST
There are conflicting reports about why Annapurna dropped the movie, with one source telling THR that budget issues were the cause while another claimed the film was currently under its $35 million budget. Variety’s source close to the production said the budget “kept growing bigger by the day,” so perhaps there’s something to those claims after all.
Bron Studios, the company behind Denzel Washington’s Fences and Jason Reitman’s Tully, is now co-financing the production, and THR says “Focus Features, Amblin, and Participant Media are in the mix to acquire.”
The film tells the true story of the culture of sexual harassment at the news network, following Carlson’s 2016 suit against Ailes. That suit started a domino effect of other women coming forward, which ultimately led to Ailes being ousted from his position as the chief of the network – a position where he clearly thought he was untouchable and could get away with anything.
We still expect casting announcements for “characters” like anchor Greta Van Susteren and the humiliated windbag Bill O’Reilly – assuming this film stays on track. It’s possible that Annapurna’s departure could result in a delayed start, but it remains to be seen if another company will be able to swoop in quickly enough to make sure everything runs smoothly.
