Kerry Washington takes on the role of Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas in trailer for new HBO film Confirmation

  • HBO has premiered the new trailer for their upcoming film Confirmation 
  • The film details the 1991 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at which Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment
  • Kerry Washington will play Hill while Wendell Pierce will play Thomas
  • The new movie will premiere April 16 on HBO 

By Chris Spargo For Dailymail.com

Published: | Updated:

Kerry Washington's latest role finds the actress playing yet another woman caught at the center of a political storm - Anita Hill.

The newly released trailer for the HBO film Confirmation gives viewers their first look at the Scandal star as she takes on the role of the real-life woman who almost blocked Clarence Thomas from being appointed to the Supreme Court.

Hill alleged in 1991 shortly after then President George Bush announced Thomas as his nominbee for the Supreme Court that he had sexually harassed her, an allegation she later testified about in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Thomas at the time, and in the trailer, referred to the hearings as a 'high-tech lynching.'

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On the way: HBO has premiered the new trailer for their upcoming film Confirmation (Kerry Washington above)

On the way: HBO has premiered the new trailer for their upcoming film Confirmation (Kerry Washington above)

Anita Hill
Clarence Thomas

Story: The film details the 1991 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at which Anita Hill (left) accused Clarence Thomas (right)  of sexual harassment

Cast: Kerry Washington will play Hill while Wendell Pierce (above) will play Thomas

Cast: Kerry Washington will play Hill while Wendell Pierce (above) will play Thomas

The trailer also shows other members of the cast, including Wendell Pierce as Thomas; Jeffrey Wright as Hill's lawyer Charles Ogletree; Greg Kinnear as then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Joe Biden; Jennifer Hudson as fellow Thomas accuser Angela Wright; Erika Christensen as Hill's close friend Shirley Wiegand; and Eric Stonestreet as Bush lobbyist Kenneth Duberstein. 

Hill's testimony against Thomas was broadcast across the globe back in November 1991, as she accused him of harassing her when he was her superior at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 

She testified that Thomas asked her out on multiple occasions and frequently talked about sexual acts and his own sexual prowess in the workplace.

He also once accused someone of leaving a pubic hair on his can of soda she testified during the hearings. 

Despite these allegations, which were all supporter by a polygraph test., Thomas was confirmed while Hill was attacked by many who accused her of simply wanting revenge.

Accuser: Jennifer Hudson (above) will play Angela Wright, who also accused Thomas but was never allowed to testify

Accuser: Jennifer Hudson (above) will play Angela Wright, who also accused Thomas but was never allowed to testify

Virginia Thomas
Joe Biden

Other names: Clarence's wife Virginia Thomas (left) and Joe Biden (right) will also be depicted in the film

It was later revealed that multiple other women were present and willing to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee including Wright, but were never called by Biden.

Thomas would later criticize Hill in his 2007 memoir while his wife Virginia went a step further and in 2010 actually left a voicemail for Hill almost 20 years after the hearings demanding that she apologize to her husband.

Hill thought it was a prank call at the time, and the FBI later had to later get involved in the situation.

That voicemail opens the new film, which will premiere April 16 on HBO.  

HBOKerry Washington

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