Two-time Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine, The Aviator) has committed to her first role in an American television program. Blanchett has signed on to star in FX’s Mrs. America, a limited series created by Dahvi Waller. Emmy Award winner Waller (Mad Men) is writing the series and will executive produce with Blanchett, Coco Francini, and Stacey Sher. Waller will also guide the limited series as the showrunner.
“I feel privileged to have this opportunity to collaborate with Dahvi, Stacey and Coco under the robust and fearless FX umbrella,” said Cate Blanchett. “I am extremely excited about delving into the material as there couldn’t be a more appropriate time to peel back the layers of this recent period of history, which couldn’t be more relevant today.”
According to FX’s official announcement, Mrs. America will consist of nine episodes and will begin shooting in 2019
“Cate Blanchett is one the great actors of our time – and we are truly honored to have her star in Mrs. America,” said John Landgraf, CEO, FX Networks and FX Productions. “We have no doubt that Cate is the perfect actor to play the role of Phyllis Schlafly, who was one of the most polarizing and fascinatingly complex figures of the ‘70s for her opposition to and role in defeating the Equal Rights Amendment, which to this day has never been ratified. Dahvi Waller’s scripts are extraordinary, and I’m thrilled to re-unite with my former Jersey TV partner Stacey Sher, and commend her on assembling such a dynamic foursome of gifted, female, artist-producers to take on this timely story.”
Series creator Dahvi Waller added, “It is a thrill to have the extraordinary Cate Blanchett bring this controversial woman to life, and I can’t think of a better network for this bold series than FX.”
The Plot:
“Mrs. America tells the true story of the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), and the unexpected backlash led by a conservative woman named Phyllis Schlafly, played by Cate Blanchett. Through the eyes of the women of that era – both Schlafly and second wave feminists Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug and Jill Ruckelshaus – the 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 our political landscape.”
