Sean Penn as John Mitchell and Julia Roberts as Martha Mitchell Photo: Starz
Sorry, William H. Macy. While you were hiding under a metric ton of prosthetics in the scam series The Dropout, Sean Penn was quietly biding his time. Armed with the same cranial area as Macy’s, Penn is an amazing sight, just like John Mitchell in the Starz Watergate series trailer Gaslit.
The story of Martha Mitchell (played here by Julia Roberts), the garrulous wife of President Nixon’s Attorney General John Mitchell (Penn), Gaslit is about this unlikely whistleblower who started the Watergate scandal. Martha, an Arkansas socialite who loves to talk about her husband’s work, was the star of the nightly news and one of the first people to openly talk about Watergate. However, once Nixon learned that his top aide’s wife was leaking information to the press, the wheels of manipulation and abuse began to turn.
Here is the description:
Despite her party affiliation, she is the first to sound the alarm publicly about Nixon’s involvement in Watergate, causing both the presidency and her personal life to crumble. As Attorney General, John Mitchell is Nixon’s most trusted adviser and best friend. Temperamental, foul-mouthed and ruthless, but hopelessly in love with his famously outspoken wife, he will be forced to choose between Martha and the president.
Of course, while it seems like a great role for Roberts, it’s hard to take your eyes off Penn. His Mitchell look is reminiscent of other heavy makeup twists that award-hungry Hollywood denizens can’t get enough of. If you don’t look like Pamela Anderson, Lucille Ball or Roger Ailes, have you ever played them?
This level of believability extends throughout the trailer in an attempt to mimic the looks and sounds of the Watergate era, including several shots that look like footage from the 70s era. While it’s hard to tell if it’ll pay off, the extravagance is hard to ignore because, like Macy’s giant skull in The Dropout, it looks pretty darn exciting.
Based on the fantasy podcast Slate Slow Burn, the series stars Penn, Roberts, Shea Whigham as J. Gordon Liddy and Dan Stevens as John Dean. However, some of the actors have yet to be revealed, including who the heck plays Nixon. We look forward to seeing which members of the Hollywood elite have spent hours in the makeup chair to get their nose done.
Gazlit premieres on Starz on April 24.