Betty Gilpin is the latest addition to the powerhouse cast for FX’s Impeachment: American Crime Story.
The GLOW star will play conservative author and media figure Ann Coulter in the third installment of the anthology series, which focuses on the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998 stemming from his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Gilpin’s casting follows that of Billy Eichner, who signed on to play another media figure, Matt Drudge.
Coulter gained fame as a conservative pundit and author with her 1998 book, High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton, which argued for his impeachment. She has been a regular on cable news ever since.
The cast of Impeachment includes Beanie Feldstein (Booksmart) as Lewinsky, Sarah Paulson (The People v. O.J. Simpson, American Horror Story) as Linda Tripp, Annaleigh Ashford (Masters of Sex) as Paula Jones and Clive Owen as Clinton.
Lewinsky is a producer on the series, which is based on Jeffrey Toobin’s book, A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President. American Crime Story executive producer Ryan Murphy optioned the book in 2017 for adaptation, then later had second thoughts about telling Lewinsky’s story. That changed when she came aboard as a producer.
“I told her, ‘Nobody should tell your story but you, and it’s kind of gross if they do,'” Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter in April 2018. “‘If you want to produce it with me, I would love that, but you should be the producer, and you should make all the goddamn money.'”
Sarah Burgess is writing and will executive produce with Murphy, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Brad Falchuk, Larry Karaszewski, Scott Alexander, Alexis Martin Woodall, Hannah Fidell, Paulson and Feldstein. Lewinsky, Henrietta Conrad and Jemima Khan are producers on the Fox 21 and FX Productions series.
Filming on Impeachment is scheduled to begin March 21, so it likely will not meet FX’s originally announced late-September premiere date — six weeks before the 2020 presidential election. The later start is due to Murphy’s schedule, as he is currently working on the Netflix movie Prom, FX chief John Landgraf told reporters last week. Production will run through October, and a premiere date is “TBD at this point,” the exec said.
Gilpin plays a lead role in Netflix’s GLOW, which is set to end after its upcoming fourth season. Her credits also include Showtime’s Masters of Sex and Nurse Jackie and feature films A Dog’s Purpose, Isn’t It Romantic and Stuber. She’s repped by ICM and Anonymous Content.
