Thursday, August 8, 2019

Why Monica Lewinsky Said Yes to Ryan Murphy

In 2017, Ryan Murphy first announced his intention to adapt Jeffrey Toobin’s 1999 book, A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President, for a future season of American Crime Story. Then the project stalled—primarily because Murphy did not want to make a story about Bill Clinton’s impeachment scandal without the involvement of Monica Lewinsky. Fast-forward to Tuesday, when FX revealed at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour that Impeachment: American Crime Story will premiere in the fall of 2020 after all—and that Lewinsky herself is serving as a producer on the series. Why did the anti-bullying activist (and Vanity Fair contributor) decide to revisit the most painful period of her past for a TV series? As she explained exclusively in a statement to V.F., she felt the time was right: “People have been co-opting and telling my part in this story for decades. In fact, it wasn’t until the past few years that I’ve been able to fully reclaim my narrative; almost 20 years later,” Lewinsky wrote. “But I’m so grateful for the growth we’ve made as a society that allows people like me who have been historically silenced to finally reintroduce my voice to the conversation. This isn’t just a me problem. Powerful people, often men, take advantage of those subordinate to them in myriad ways all the time. Many people will see this as such a story and for that reason, this narrative is one that is, regretfully, evergreen.”
Elsewhere in HWD, Julie Miller previews the upcoming Downton Abbey movie as the cast poses for a series of gorgeous portraits; Sonia Saraiya falls under Succession’s spell once again in season two; Britt Hennemuth chats with some of Hollywood’s brightest up-and-comers for our September issue; and Laura Bradleygets Justin Simien to open up about taking Spike Lee to task in the latest season of Dear White People.