Bombshell, dropping Friday,is the first major film after #MeToo to delve into sexual harassment, and tackles the culture at Fox News that allowed bigwig Roger Ailes to harass, exploit, and intimidate women. It boasts a star-studded cast, including Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly and Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson, two of the women who came forward about sexual harassment and helped bring Ailes down. In director Jay Roach's film, Margot Robbie plays Kayla, a composite character manipulated and sexually harassed. Kayla also forms a close relationship with Kate McKinnon's Jess character.
Some Bombshell spoilers ahead.
The sharp script from writer Charles Randolph also investigates an environment at Fox News that forces Jess to remain closeted and for Kayla, who is fluid, to bury her sexuality so far that she fails to address it at all.
In the interview with The Advocate below, Robbie and Theron discuss the idea that sexual harassment cuts across political ideology. And they both weigh in the film's surprising queer storyline with Jess and Kayla.
"I find my characters through their interactions with the other actors that I'm working with. Luckily, I got to do so much of this film with Kate McKinnon, who's incredible, and people are going to see a side to her acting that they rarely get to see. But we also get to have a lot of fun together," Robbie says.
Regarding the fling between the characters, Robbie says, "Story-wise, it adds to the idea that they can't come forward and be open and honest, and their jobs are on the line."
"Isn't it great though that there's a relationship like that in the film and we don't necessarily explain it? It's just there," Theron says. "I just love that there's a space for these characters to live and breathe without an underlying explanation of why did she do it?"
Watch Theron and Robbie below. Bombshell is in theaters December 13.
