Anna Daniels
Cate Blanchett is gunning for next year’s Emmy and Golden Globe ceremonies with her role as conservative ’70s activist Phyllis Schlafly in Mrs. America. She leads a murderer’s row of character actresses in the FX series about the battle to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, and the unexpected backlash led by notorious anti-feminist Schlafly. Watch the Mrs. America trailer below.
Mrs. America Trailer
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIpTIPKTOkU?feature=oembed&w=740&h=416]
Before “owning the libs” became a thing, there was Phyllis Schlafly, the conservative activist who fiercely fought against the Women’s Liberation Movement and their attempts ratify the ERA, an amendment that would have guaranteed women legal equality to men. But Dahvi Waller‘s limited series looks to be more than a “both sides” argument, with the show taking Schlafly to task for her hypocritical advocacy for women to embrace being mothers and housewives while also running for Congress and leaving her own children with a full-time nanny — all the while jabbing back at her critics by labeling her career a “hobby.” But the extreme views of the Women’s Liberation Movement are also highlighted, articulated by Rose Byrne as Gloria Steinem, who just as fiercely opposes Schlafly and her entire movement.
The series also stars Margo Martindale as Bella Abzug, Tracey Ullmann as Betty Friedan, and Uzo Aduba as Shirley Chisholm. The one original character in this collection of images is Sarah Paulson as Alice, a composite character who will act as the audience surrogate to the events unfolding around the battle to get the Equal Rights Amendment passed. Additional cast includes James Marsden as Republican congressman Philip Crane, John Slattery plays Fred Schlafly, and Elizabeth Banks is Jill Ruckelshaus, a White House assistant, women’s rights activist, and wife of the former head of the EPA, William Ruckelshaus.
Here is the synopsis for Mrs. America:
Mrs. America recounts the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and the unexpected backlash led by Phyllis Schlafly, aka “the sweetheart of the silent majority.” Through the eyes of the women of the era, the FX series explores how one of the toughest battlegrounds in the culture wars of the 70s helped give rise to the Moral Majority and forever shifted the political landscape.
Mrs. America premieres exclusively on FX on Hulu on April 15, 2020.
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