After years of Scandal fandom, we're a little used to seeing Kerry Washington stand in front of a media firing squad and instantly owning the room. From this very first picture released by HBO today, it's clear that's not what she'll be doing in Confirmation. As Anita Hill, the law professor who testified at Clarence Thomas' 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearing that he had sexually harassed her, she's is now playing a woman who doesn't win every fight.
During the hearing and the media storm surrounding it, Hill was made into both victim and villain, an "angry black woman" stereotype and a martyr for workplace equality. She's going to have to talk about pubic hairs on soda cans and Long Dong Silver with a straight face.
We all know how this story ends, but we also know that Washington, at least, will handle it. She seems pretty psyched for the job.
FIRST LOOK. @KerryWashington as Anita Hill on the set of the HBO Film, CONFIRMATION. pic.twitter.com/Hc98wArzZO
— HBO (@HBO) June 16, 2015 "Dear @HBO, Thank you for the profound opportunity of getting to inhabit Anita Hill and help tell this story! Yours Truly, K-Dub (aka super excited Exec Producer) #Confirmation," she wrote on Instagram, reposting the set pic.
The movie, which also stars Wendell Pierce as Thomas and Cobie Smulders as lawyer Harriet Grant, doesn't yet have a release date.