Bombshell is the buzzy new film starring Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie, and Nicole Kidman. The movie depicts the scandal surrounding the sexual harassment allegations lobbied at former network CEO Roger Ailes.
Theron and Robbie have already received Golden Globe nominations for their incredible performances, although Kidman is just as fierce in her depiction of Gretchen Carlson. The movie is full of badass moments from the three women trying to come forward and get Ailes fired from his job. It’s hard to pick just ten of the best moments, but we attempted to with the following list.
Juliet Huddy helps Megyn find the names of Roger’s victims
Jennifer Morrison plays Fox news anchor, Juliet Huddy, in Bombshell. Juliet is one of the women that helps Megyn come forward and gives her a list of names of other women currently working at the network who have been victims of Roger’s harassment.
The real Huddy actually broke her NDA to come forward about the sexual harassment allegations and discuss her experiences with the film’s screenwriter, Charles Randolph, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Gretchen decides to sue Roger Ailes
The main conflict of Bombshell kicks off when Gretchen gets fired from her job and decides to move forward by directly suing Roger Ailes. She “does her homework” as is said about her multiple times throughout the movie.
Anticipating being fired, Gretchen meets with lawyers and prepares to go on the offensive before she even gets the ax. She is more than prepared when she finally gets booted out of FOX and her own show. It is Gretchen that truly kicks off the events to get Ailes fired. Plus, Gretchen also keeps tapes of she and Ailes meetings and saves them to release after he has denied everything, which is definitely badass.
Megyn Kelly decides to speak out
Megyn spends the majority of the film debating on whether or not she should come forward about the harassment she faced by the hand of Roger Ailes.
Eventually, she makes the decision to speak out on the way he harassed her ten years before the movie begins. Her actions help to motivate many other women at FOX News to come forward. It’s a direct domino effect that eventually leads to Ailes getting the boot from the network altogether.
Megyn questions Donald Trump about his hatred of women
At the beginning of the film, Megyn gets to question Donald Trump about the many derogatory statements he has made towards women in the past. The film does not actually hire an actor to play Trump on-screen, instead the producers opted to use archive footage to show his real responses.
Megyn calls Trump out directly by quoting some of his direct insults and foul language used to describe various women. Trump retaliates by attacking Megyn, even going so far as to talk about her period in a public forum.
Doug Brunt stands up for his wife
For those who are unfamiliar, Mark Duplass plays the role of Megyn Kelly’s husband, Doug Brunt. He has a relatively small part in the film but is shown as a dedicated and devoted husband that comes to Megyn’s defense more than once.
However, one of the most notable moments occurs relatively early in the film when Megyn and Doug go on vacation. After losing at a tennis match, Doug’s opponent gets in Megyn’s face about her accusations towards Trump. Doug defends his wife and threatens the man to stay away from her.
Gretchen goes all-natural on live television
It might not seem that badass given millions of women go without makeup every day but given the climate at FOX news in the movie, what Gretchen did was quite brave.
In celebration of International Girls Day, Gretchen decides not to wear any makeup during a national television show broadcast so that she can display her natural beauty. This thoroughly angers Ailes who tells her that no one wants to “watch a woman sweat through menopause.” It goes to show how unkind the man is and his natural inclination to be sexist.
Kayla comes forward
Margot Robbie is one of the cast standouts in a movie full of some truly terrific performances. Her character is harassed by Roger Ailes multiple times throughout the film, although we only see one stomach-churning incident.
One of the film’s most heartbreaking films occurs when Kayla confesses what happened to her friend Jess. Ultimately, she does decide to be a witness and is one of the many women that helps to get Ailes ousted from the network once and for all. Robbie plays the role to devastating effect.
Kayla quits her job
At the end of the movie when Roger Ailes gets fired and Rupert Murdoch announces his departure on television, Kayla finally decides to quit her job. She doesn’t say anything, she just simply walks away from her desk while holding her badge and dropping it in the trashcan.
It’s a quietly satisfying moment. She has taken a stand against Ailes and is trying to take her power back by leaving behind the network that mistreated her once and for all. The only person who watches her go is Jess, who looks quite proud of her friend’s decision.
Lily and Julia show Megyn tons of support
Lily and Julia are two of Megyn’s staff support team along with Gill. However, Lily and Julia are much more supportive of Megyn than Gill is, particularly Lily. Lily tells Megyn multiple times that she should go after the truth, no matter what.
She is even willing to put her job on the line if it means Megyn will get to the root of the Roger Ailes problem and devote her time to finding his other victims in the office.
Kayla tries to take charge of her career
One thing that is admirable about Kayla is her desire to move up in her career. She is willing to leave her safety bubble with Gretchen to work for Bill O’Reilly and from there she even tries to move farther up the career ladder by meeting with Roger.
Unfortunately, that leads to Kayla’s harassment but her ambition and drive are still admirable and certainly badass. She jumps off the deep end early in the movie in the hopes to follow her dreams. It doesn’t end well for her at FOX but ultimately she quits and hopefully moves on to better things and heals from her trauma.
Next: 10 Movies To Watch If You Like Bombshell
