Kerry Washington to Play Anita Hill in HBO’s ‘Confirmation’

Kerry Washington is set to continue her small-screen hot streak in a new film for HBO. The Scandal actress is set to play Anita Hill in the pay cabler’s upcoming film, Confirmation, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The film will explore the 1991 confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in which Hill accused Thomas of sexual harassment while he was her boss at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The accusation set off a media firestorm and forever changed Americans’ understanding and discussion of workplace harassment.

Screenwriter Susannah Grant, who was nominated for an Oscar for Erin Brockovitch, will write the script and executive produce the project, reports THR. Groundswell Productions CEO Michael London and Washington are also reportedly attached as executive producers.

While no director has yet been announced, Rick Famuyiwa (Dope, Brown Sugar) is reportedly in talks to helm the project.

Confirmation is the latest in a string of ambitious original films from HBO. The network recently announced that Paul Giamatti and Elizabeth Banks would play Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King in a film about the legendary 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match, while Bryan Cranston will reportedly reprise his role as President Lyndon B. Johnson in an HBO adaptation of his Tony Award-winning play All the Way.