FX announced today that the third season of American Crime Story will center on the sex scandal that rocked the Bill Clinton presidency.
Monica Lewinsky will be a producer of “Impeachment: American Crime Story” which will focus on the scandal surrounding former President Bill Clinton’s affair with her.
The show will star actress Beanie Feldstein as Lewinsky and “American Crime Story” cast member Sarah Paulson as Linda Tripp, who worked as an employee in the Clinton White House and whose recordings of Lewinsky’s phone calls about the affair helped expose the scandal.
Annaleigh Ashford will play Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state employee who sued Clinton for sexual harassment.
The season’s script will be based on Jeffrey Toobin’s best-selling book “A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal that Nearly Brought Down a President.”
Ryan Murphy told the outlet last year that he asked Lewinsky to sign on as a producer after seeing her at a party in Los Angeles.
“I told her, ‘Nobody should tell your story but you, and it’s kind of gross if they do,'” Murphy said. “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.’”
Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office, 1997
Lewinsky told Vanity Fair:
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.
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.”
FX CEO John Landgraf said the season will “explore overlooked dimensions” of the infamous scandal.
“This franchise re-examines some of the most complicated, polarizing stories in recent history in a way that is relevant, nuanced and entertaining,” Landgraf said in a news release, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “Impeachment: American Crime Story will likewise explore the overlooked dimensions of the women who found themselves caught up in the scandal and political war that cast a long shadow over the Clinton presidency.
Production begins in February, with the season premiere set for Sunday, September 27, 2020.
That date will be about a month out from the next presidential election.