EMMY(R) NOMINEE JOSH CHARLES JOINS THE SHOWTIME(R) LIMITED SERIES "THE LOUDEST VOICE"

Production Underway With Oscar(R) Winner Russell Crowe Starring As Roger Ailes

LOS ANGELES - March 21, 2019 - SHOWTIME has announced that Emmy and Golden Globe(R) nominated actor Josh Charles (The Good Wife) will play a recurring role in the network's upcoming limited series THE LOUDEST VOICE about Fox News founder Roger Ailes. The series, led by Academy Award(R) and Golden Globe winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind), is based on extensive reporting by Gabriel Sherman in his bestselling book, The Loudest Voice in the Room. Production is currently underway in New York City.

Charles will portray Casey Close, husband of former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson (Oscar(R) nominee Naomi Watts) and well-known sports agent, who tries to comfort his rattled wife and reassure her that her situation at Fox isn't as bad as she thinks.

Charles is an Emmy, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild(R) Award and Critics' Choice nominated film, television and stage actor. His most recent films include Amateur, Norman, The Drowning, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Freeheld, I Smile Back, Bird People and the upcoming Framing John DeLorean. Other notable film credits include the Academy Award winning film Dead Poets Society, S.W.A.T., Four Brothers, Threesome, Pie In The Sky, Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, Crossing the Bridge, Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead, Seeing Other People and Hairspray. On television, he spent five seasons on the award-winning drama The Good Wife, for which he received two Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe nomination. Other television work includes MASTERS OF SEX, Sports Night, In Treatment, Law and Order: True Crime, Wet Hot American Summer, Drunk History, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Inside Amy Schumer. On stage, Charles most recently co-starred on Broadway in Straight White Men and the world premiere of The Antipodes.

In today's politically charged media landscape, no figure looms larger, even after his passing, than Roger Ailes, who molded Fox News into a force that irrevocably changed the conversation about the highest levels of government. To understand the events that led to the rise of Donald Trump, one must understand Ailes. The upcoming limited series takes on that challenge, focusing primarily on the past decade in which Ailes arguably became the Republican Party's de facto leader, while also touching on defining events in Ailes' life, including an initial meeting with Richard Nixon on the set of The Mike Douglas Show that gave birth to Ailes' political career and the sexual harassment accusations and settlements that brought his Fox News reign to an end. The seven-episode series aims to shed light on the psychology that drives the political process from the top down.

In addition to Crowe and Watts, the star-studded cast of THE LOUDEST VOICE includes Golden Globe nominee Sienna Miller (Layer Cake) as Ailes' wife Elizabeth, Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) as former Fox News PR chief Brian Lewis, Screen Actors Guild Award nominee Simon McBurney (The Theory of Everything) as News Corp leader Rupert Murdoch, Annabelle Wallis (Peaky Blinders) as former Fox News booker Laurie Luhn and Aleska Palladino (Boardwalk Empire) as Ailes' longtime assistant Judy Laterza. Emmy nominee Kari Skogland (The Handmaid's Tale) will direct the first two episodes.

Sherman co-wrote the initial episode of the limited series with Oscar winner Tom McCarthy (Spotlight). For the primary source material, The Loudest Voice in the Room, Sherman interviewed more than 600 people. The project is a co-production from SHOWTIME and independent studio Blumhouse Television (Sharp Objects, The Normal Heart). In addition to Crowe, McCarthy will executive produce with Emmy winner Jason Blum and Alex Metcalf, as well as Marci Wiseman and Jeremy Gold for Blumhouse Television, Liza Chasin (Darkest Hour) of 3dot Productions and Kari Skogland.

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