Kerry Washington is known for her role as a powerful Black woman tackling fictional scandals in Shonda Rhimes’ scripted drama, but the Scandal star is now on her way to take on a historical scandal that changed public discourse about sexual harassment forever.
Washington, better known by some as Olivia Pope, has been confirmed to star as Anita Hill in an upcoming HBO movie titled Confirmation, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Confirmation is in development from HBO Films and will be a made-for-TV movie about the 1991 Supreme Court nomination hearings for Clarence Thomas.
Hill, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma who had once worked for Thomas, accused him of sexual harassment.
The accusations led to an explosive hearing but didn’t prevent Thomas from receiving the controversial appointment.
The lasting impact, however, had much more to do with social changes than it did with politics.
“The Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas controversy had other long-term consequences beyond Justice Thomas’s life-term on the Supreme Court,” a report from the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media explained. “Foremost, national awareness about sexual harassment in the workplace heightened considerably.”
Anita Hill
It also resulted in an “increased involvement of women in politics.”
There hasn’t been much online discussion about the casting but for those who are tweeting about Washington’s new role, they seem to be very supportive.
“It is LIT,” one user tweeted along with a link to an article that confirmed Washington’s casting.
“Kerry is perfect for this,” another chimed in.
It’s only fair to note that Hill and Washington aren’t exactly “twinsies,” but there is certainly enough resemblance there—and casting can’t rely solely on finding celebrity look-a-likes.
Washington is also confirmed to help produce the film alongside Erin Brockovich’s Academy Award-nominated writer Susannah Grant, who will also write the script.
A director has not been confirmed for the film, but sources tell The Hollywood Reporter the current frontrunner is Rick Famuyiwa, the Nigerian-American writer and director of such films as The Wood (1999), Talk To Me (2007), and Brown Sugar (2002).
